We are elated at the imminent release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees as the first step in a Gaza peace plan brokered by President Donald Trump. Anything that diminishes suffering is welcome in a world bedeviled by chronic war and upheavals. As of the end of 2024, a staggering 123 million people had been displaced because of violence.
But the long-term prospects for peace in Gaza or the West Bank remain slim. Conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors has never ceased since the birth of the former in 1948. For the past 77 years, the conflict has endured, swinging back and forth between hot wars and a cold war but never a just and lasting peace. Let us be candid without fault-finding. The divisions in the region seem unbridgeable. Reflect on the sobering words of former Israeli prime minister and venerated founder David Ben-Gurion acknowledging those irreconcilable differences, as quoted by Nahum Goldmann:
“If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: We have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?”
Every national boundary in the world reflects raw power, not justice. The Middle East is no different.
An agreement on who will rule Gaza and the West Bank is the elephant in the living room that the cease-fire and hostage-prisoner exchange ignores. Palestinians insist on the right to self-determination and a sovereign state of their own. Israel is implacably opposed, arguing that self-determination is nothing but a euphemism for throwing Israel into the sea. Israel insists neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority has any role in a post-Oct. 7 world. But it offers no credible substitute that would honor the government by the consent of the governed.
Trump’s 20-point peace plan contemplates a temporary transitional government in Gaza consisting of a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” supervised by an international Board of Peace chaired by himself. The plan is a non-starter. Neither the committee nor the board would be elected. They would be devoid of popular support. Why would Palestinians trust Trump, who has showered Israel with weapons and diplomatic support since his inauguration last January? Indeed, the plan smacks of the British post-World War I mandate for Palestine that proved disastrous for Jews and gentiles alike.
Trump’s success in convincing Israel and Hamas to agree to the initial points of his plan may finally bring freedom to the remaining hostages and a respite from the bloodshed. But experience tells us that as long as the same enormous gulf that has divided both sides in this conflict persists, a return to violence, terror and destruction may as well be inevitable.
We do not claim the wisdom to cut the Gordian Knot to Middle East peace. But it is best not to create unrealistic expectations, which will only beget more bitterness or fault-finding.
Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
