US President Donald Trump proudly announced that Israel and Hamas had both signed on to the first phase of his peace plan.
“This means that all of the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their troops to an agreed-upon line,” he posted overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, adding that these were the first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace.
Trump thanked Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey for their role as mediators. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he wrote.
Trump’s push for peace and devotion to securing the release of the hostages have been key foundation stones of his second term. He has shown a deep emotional attachment to the hostages, inviting them and their families to the White House. This stems from his drive to bring American hostages home from abroad.
The Trump administration made it a priority to free Edan Alexander, the last living US hostage in Gaza. He also freed Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli with Russian citizenship, who was held in Iraq. As the peace deal came into view, Trump hosted Alexander and the family of hostage Omer Neutra at the White House.
Trump believes he has a unique role to play as a historic peacemaker in the Middle East. He has sought to do this via the Abraham Accords – and now the peace deal. He has been able to achieve this through his unique blend of personal diplomacy and his sense of history.
A critical 10 days for peace
Trump rolled out his peace plan on September 29. Days later, on Friday, October 3, he said Hamas had accepted the deal, and that Israel should stop bombing Gaza so that both sides could work out the details.
Over the following days, teams from Israel, the US, Qatar, Turkey, and Hamas arrived in Egypt for talks. The pressure was on to get an agreement, and rumors swirled that Trump could come to the region if a deal was signed.
By Wednesday evening a deal was done. It had all happened in around 240 hours between the time of Trump welcoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on September 29 to the sides agreeing to the deal overnight on October 8-9.
Trump was able to bring this deal together after almost a year of focus on the Middle East. He hadn’t expected to devote so much time to the region when he took office. He wanted to focus on domestic policy.
In fact, after the election in November 2024, the Trump team spent a lot of time preparing for the first 100 days in office. In 2020, when he was first elected, he had to prepare at the last minute to take office in January 2021.
This time, his team had a lot of time to prepare. This is because they likely knew they could beat Kamala Harris after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
For Trump, the main message has always been “Make America Great Again.” Domestic policy has always had hurdles, however, because there are many challenges to the Trump doctrine at home.
Regarding immigration and law enforcement, for instance, he has always had to contend with local courts that are not obliging.
Where Trump has always had the easiest time making decisions is foreign policy. This is because it is one area that is largely reserved for the president. In addition, he has been able to order airstrikes and use the military abroad.
This means the area most easily available to the administration is not always necessarily where it wants to put its focus.
That doesn’t mean Trump does not have a doctrine when it comes to foreign policy.
His doctrine, formed over the last decade, is rooted in several key beliefs. He wants to see the United States be effective abroad and not taken advantage of. He thinks the US has squandered blood and treasure abroad, and that it usually hasn’t paid off.
Foreign policy for the US is often a sunk cost of diminishing returns. The US is involved in trying to deal with the whole world, having assumed the mantle of global hegemony in the 1990s after the Cold War.
Years of being a global policeman and “nation building,” however, have come with a price. Trump wants to stop paying that price.
In the past, he has asked pointed questions about the US-led world order and the alliance system that came about due to US commitments from the Cold War. For instance, what is the US doing in South Korea? Is it pulling too much of the weight behind NATO? What is the role of the US in Africa?
Trump has wanted US foreign and military policy to be effective. He has tended to favor a more transactional form of policy, meaning that countries need to step up to the plate and show what they will bring to the US.
In the Gulf, for example, the Trump administration has wanted to see buy-in for US industries. This usually refers to arms deals – or deals for aircraft. The same is true with Turkey.
The Trump administration wants US allies and partners to step up and show that they are willing to pay into his belief in the US economy and making America strong through bringing industries home.
Regarding the Middle East, Trump believes he can bring peace to the region. He believes this will be good for the countries in the region and good for America.
If there can be more peace in the Middle East, then the US can focus on other parts of the world; it can also focus more domestically and on trade.
Trump has close personal relations with the president of Turkey as well as leaders in the Gulf. He has utilized the credibility he has on the ground to get these countries to come to the peace table.
Trump worked the phones with Turkey, Egypt, and the Gulf states to get them in the room with Israel in Sharm el-Sheikh. He also knows he can strong-arm Israel’s leader. He knows he has deep support in Israel.
Israelis like Trump, and the hostage families believe he is the only hope for their loved ones.
Trump knows he is more popular in Israel than local politicians. As such, he feels confident he can tell Israel to stop bombing Gaza and get Israel to accept peace, finally.
Israel’s leaders had tried to go back to fighting throughout the year, letting the first Trump ceasefire deal expire in March. Trump has now shown that, via his willpower, he can begin to bring peace to the region.