So I ask a straightforward question: Why don’t the Palestinians demand that Hamas leaders, hiding in tunnels under their destroyed enclave, accept this agreement so that reconstruction can begin? Hamas’ existence has been premised on saying no to peace with Israel. But it would surely be in the interest of Palestinian civilians, who have suffered so much in this conflict, to say yes.
Like many observers of this horrific war, I have been calling for Israel to end the operation and act “the next day” for months. The Israeli military leadership, at Biden’s urging, supports the plan. The world should now make the same demand of Hamas. Accept the deal.
The deal remains hazy on details. It is supported by Israel’s war cabinet but not by parts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. Moving from a first-stage ceasefire to a permanent one in a second-stage ceasefire will require negotiations, but the ceasefire will last as long as those negotiations continue. The process is fragile and imperfect, but it is backed by implicit guarantees from the United States and its Group of Seven allies.
The “deliverables” for the Palestinians are laid out in an unreleased document prepared by negotiators, outlined to me this week by a person familiar with the negotiations. It lays out a clear path to begin immediately repairing the devastation of the conflict. Here are details on how to get started.
- Starting from the first day of the ceasefire, Israel will facilitate a surge in humanitarian aid. Specifically, the agreement provides for 600 trucks to enter the Gaza Strip daily, including 50 fuel trucks. 300 trucks will be delivered to northern Gaza, containing the fuel needed to restart the power plant in central Gaza.
- The agreement calls for providing at least 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents to shelter displaced Palestinians. Debris from the war scattered across the Gaza Strip will be immediately removed using civilian bulldozers and other heavy machinery.
- Hospitals, medical centres and bakeries will be rebuilt across the district, and these vital services will be maintained throughout subsequent phases of the agreement.
- Gaza’s war-destroyed infrastructure, including roads, electricity, water, sewerage and communications systems, is to be gradually rebuilt across the strip, with Israel agreeing to allow the delivery of needed equipment.
- The United Nations, Egypt and Qatar will lead an international effort to comprehensively rebuild destroyed homes, schools and other basic needs.
If the deal works, a new Gaza will eventually be born. Months of despair and hunger will slowly begin to heal. With a flood of international aid pouring into the Strip, Gaza may actually experience a post-war economic boom.
What does Israel get from this agreement? First, and most importantly, all Israeli hostages and bodies will be returned in three stages. This may not seem like the “total victory” the Netanyahu coalition hopes for. But as a senior Biden administration official said last Friday, “Hamas cannot afford another October 7th incident. Its military power has been severely weakened. And its leaders are either dead or in deep hiding.”
Governance of the Gaza Strip has yet to be determined, but Hamas’ dictatorial rule is over, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other members of Israel’s war cabinet share Biden’s view that Palestinian rule is essential, with the framework for it being built by supporters of the Palestinian Authority.
Even after the ceasefire, active Hamas fighters will remain targets for Israel, and the official said “Israel, like any sovereign nation, always reserves the right to act against threats to its security.”
Lebanon looms as the next battleground, but this too will be mitigated by a ceasefire in Gaza. Once a ceasefire is agreed, US officials will push for the implementation of an interim agreement with Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters to within 10 kilometers of the Israeli-Lebanese border. The aim is to make northern Israeli towns safe again so that families who fled after October 7 can return home before the start of the new school term in September. US officials expect Israeli-Hezbollah exchanges will also be limited by certain measures.
There are also promises of a broader ceasefire, normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which for generations has refused to recognize the Jewish state. As Biden said, the Gaza deal could “integrate Israel even more deeply into the region” and make it “part of a regional security network that counters the Iranian threat.”
There’s a cynical phrase about past peace efforts that “the Palestinians never miss an opportunity.” It’s a harsh, one-sided judgment of a history of failure on both sides. But now Hamas leaders have a chance to do the right thing by the Palestinian people they claim to be fighting for, and I hope the Palestinian people will urge them to do so.
