Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
by Trudy Rubin
“As details trickled out Wednesday of a ceasefire for hostages deal between Israel and Hamas, my mind ran through the many previous efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peace I’d covered in the last 25 years. And why they’d failed. I can sum everything up in one word: leadership. Clear-eyed, realistic, pragmatic, committed leadership has been the key to successful Israeli peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, aided by U.S. mediation in the case of Egypt. The world cheered at the prospect of 33 Israeli hostages being returned Sunday, in the first of three stages of this deal, along with a ceasefire that permits hundreds of thousands of Gazans to return to their (shattered) homes. But leadership will determine whether the deal ever progresses to its second and third stages — and galvanizes a wider regional peace.” (01/16/25)
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/gaza-ceasefire-deal-netanyahu-hamas-trump-peace-20250116.html