Professor Shibley Telhami is pleased to share several items analyzing the Gaza deal that has led to a ceasefire and the release of all Israeli hostages as well as some Palestinian detainees.

The first is an article Professor Telhami wrote for Time Magazine, in which he points out that, while the immediate steps resulting from the deal are welcome and desperately needed, this is not a peace deal: It is "a hostage deal, a ceasefire of an uncertain term, and a prayer." Gaza has been obliterated and "the 20-point Trump peace plan is thin on details and principles" which in any case have not been accepted by the parties. "The vague promise of a "pathway" to Palestinian independence is reminiscent of past negotiations, when invoking the promise of an eventual Palestinian state had become a smokescreen to camouflage what was already a cruel, unjust, and explosive reality; it predictably led to the immense violence witnessed over the past two years."

To pull off a real peace deal "will take efforts by the American president worthy of a Nobel Peace prize...Trump would have to do what no American president has been able to do in recent decades: Stop shielding Israel from the consequences of its expansionist behavior that violates international laws and norms."

The full article can be accessed here.

Relatedly, Professor Telhami discussed the timing and implication of the deal on NPR's Weekend Edition, a link to which is here. In addition, he had a longer conversation on the issue on The DSR Network podcast, which you can find here.

Professor Telhami's analysis of the changing American-Israeli relationship, particularly what his polls and others have been showing, was published in a New York Times article on the subject. He noted that the emerging American public anger with Israel is likely enduring: "We now have a paradigmatic Gaza generation like we had a Vietnam generation and a Pearl Harbor generation. There's this growing sense among people that what they're witnessing is a genocide in real time, amplified by new media, which we didn't have in Vietnam. It's a new generation where Israel is seen as a villain. And I don't think that's likely to go away."

Professor Telhami also noted that the stakes for Israel are very high as the foundation of its relationship with the United States are challenged. He pointed out "that Israel's dependence on U.S. support had become so glaring over the course of the war - in political, military and economic terms - that Israel would be motivated to treat its possible defeat in the court of American public opinion as an "existential threat." The game for maintaining the support for Israel is priority No. 1, because the battle in America for Israel is perceived as part of the battle for Israel itself."