President Trump’s announcement that Israel and Hamas have signed off on the first phase of a U.S.-brokered Gaza deal is the kind of bold diplomacy America needs — not endless lecturing from career diplomats who deliver nothing. After two brutal years of war and failed ceasefires, a tangible framework that could free hostages and freeze the fighting is a victory worth defending.
On paper the breakthrough contains the hard, practical things conservatives demanded: a ceasefire, a staged Israeli withdrawal to secure lines, and the reciprocal release of hostages and prisoners that has haunted families for two years. Those are not symbolic gestures — they are concrete, measurable steps that can bring Israelis home and create breathing room for a real political settlement.
Mr. Trump’s 20-point outline pushes beyond simple armistice language, calling for demilitarization of Hamas’s offensive capabilities, an international stabilization force, and a U.S.-led reconstruction effort to rebuild Gaza while preventing a return to terror. That mix — security first, reconstruction second — is the only realistic path to stop a cycle of humanitarian disaster followed by renewed jihadist strength.
But the road from ambitious plan to durable peace is littered with traps. The biggest, obvious problem is disarming an organization that has made terrorism its raison d’être; Hamas may sign agreements when under pressure, but its past behavior shows agreements can be temporary if not enforced by credible, muscular security measures. International guarantees sound fine in press conferences; the hard work is on the ground, and history warns us that naive conditions invite failure.
Implementation will require tough bargaining with regional players and blunt American leadership on the ground — envoys in Cairo, pressure on mediators, and an unmistakable message that the U.S. will not bankroll a reborn terror state. President Trump’s team has pushed negotiators into that uncomfortable space, and this is exactly the kind of deal-making that opponents called impossible until it wasn’t. The country needs results, not moralizing.
Conservatives should cheer a president who demands deliverables: hostages home, Hamas disarmed, Israel secure, and reconstruction tied to verified security benchmarks. At the same time, we must be skeptical of any arrangement that substitutes international bureaucracy for American resolve or that asks Israel to accept open-ended vulnerabilities in the name of virtue signaling. Hard power plus clear conditions, not platitudes, will keep this deal from unraveling.
The practical questions remaining are brutal and expensive: who pays to rebuild the Strip, how to vet any rebuilt institutions, and how to keep radical factions from reconstituting their arsenals beneath the rubble. If America is going to lead reconstruction it must insist on robust verification, permanent demilitarization, and a transparent mechanism so taxpayer dollars don’t become the seed money for tomorrow’s attacks. Patriots should demand no less.
