Trump’s historic peace deal comes with a bitterly high cost

It looks like President Trump may have pulled off the toughest deal of his presidency. An end to the war in the Middle East.

All the countries in the Middle East have signed onto the president’s deal, and both Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

Speaking to Fox News yesterday, Trump addressed the issue at the forefront of so many people’s minds: the release of the hostages. “The big thing is hostages are going to be released, probably Monday,” the president said.

“They’re in a terrible situation there,” Trump continued, referring to the 48 Israeli hostages believed to be in Gaza, less than half of whom are believed to be alive.

There was a reminder this week of just how bad the situation of those hostages will be. Eli Sharabi’s memoir “Hostage” was published in America this week — on October 7th. That was the second-year anniversary of the day that Sharabi was abducted from his home in the community of Be’eri in southern Israel.

He was held in tunnels underneath Gaza for 491 days. With his legs shackled for weeks on end he was put through indescribable mental and physical torture — deprived of food, water, sunlight, everything.

As he describes in his book, all the time he got through by thinking of getting out and being reunited with his wife and two daughters. Hamas did not tell him that their members had murdered Eli’s wife, daughters and his brother on the morning of October 7th.

Sharabi’s memoir is a searing, un-putdownable account of what he was put through. It stands comparison with Viktor Frankl’s meditation on the Holocaust: “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

Reading it you can’t stop thinking of the people still down there — people who have been going through the same hell as Sharabi for even longer.

If the remaining hostages are in fact released, it will be a cause for huge relief and celebration. They and their families have been put through years of unimaginable hell.

But their release will come at a bitterly high price. Because the deal includes an “exchange” of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. These prisoners include terrorists — people involved in the most deadly terror attacks against Israel who should have stayed in prison for the rest of their lives.

Frankly it is amazing that Hamas is still in a position to “negotiate” anything. You might have hoped that after two years they would have to simply surrender.

But the group is still negotiating. Indeed one of its spokesmen — Hazem Qassem — complained this week that “The occupation [Israel] is attempting to manipulate the list of [Palestinian] prisoners that the resistance handed over for release.”

Of course the Israeli side will be wanting to prevent the release of the worst and most dedicated Islamist fanatics from their prisons.

If the Israeli hostages do all come home on Monday then there will be rejoicing in Israel. But the celebration will be mixed with foreboding and mourning. Not just for the dead bodies that Hamas continues to use as bargaining chips, but because other relatives of other victims of Hamas will see their loved ones killers released onto the streets.

I can’t think of any other country in the world that would accept such terms. Dead bodies of your murdered citizens in exchange for the murderers of your citizens.

Israelis know how this process can go. They have been here before.

Many readers will know that the whole October 7th war was started by the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

He was in an Israeli prison for years — not for killing Israelis, but for throttling Palestinians to death with his own hands. Including with one of those nice keffiyeh scarfs that protestors in this city have made into accessories for their terrorist chic attire.

As a dedicated Hamas leader Sinwar spent years in an Israeli prison, where he studied his enemy. Then in 2011 he was released along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one kidnapped Israeli soldier — Gilad Shalit.

That deal was a bitter one for Israelis to swallow. But they did swallow it — in order to get their young man home.

Sinwar went back to Gaza and increased his control inside Hamas. His renown among his fellow jihadists was only increased through his time in prison. And then he launched October 7th, 2023.

How will this time be different? How will the Israeli public know that the hundreds of prisoners released in exchange for their hostages will not be the next Sinwar?

There is only person who can ensure that the last two years of bloody conflict and loss is not just the latest Gaza war but the last Gaza war. That man is President Trump.

It is the president who has managed to put together the remarkable regional coalition that appears to be bringing this war to an end. The relationships he has built over many years have often been the subject of criticism, but they will have proved invaluable if this peace deal passes and holds.

And it is that second bit that will matter most. That the deal holds.

Because it is crucial that whatever happens in the next few days, Hamas or similar jihadist groups can never again control Gaza. That they are never again in a position to invade and slaughter their neighbors.

For that to happen President Trump is going to need to remain engaged in the post-war aftermath.

He has already talked of the “Board of Peace” which he will chair and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be on. Blair has his critics, but he also has an unparalleled contact book for the region.

With the engagement of the Arab states it is possible that post-war Gaza could indeed be rebuilt. But it must be rebuilt in the knowledge that the citizens are preparing for a life of peace — not a future of war.

President Trump has brought the people of Israel and Gaza to the brink of peace. Now he has to make it hold.