[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
Dear friends,

After two years of unfathomable horror, the sounds of bombs and gunfire
may finally give way to pained relief – and celebration by both Israelis
and Palestinians. Many of us are figuring out what it means to feel hope
again.

We’ve seen these deals collapse before, but this feels real.

President Trump seems determined, and I’m sure the acclaim he’ll receive
will only increase his resolve to see this agreement through.

It was always going to take forceful American leadership to break this
impasse. In the end, that’s what made the difference.

This is the power of the United States refusing to take no for an answer.

This deal was signed fast, but it also took far, far too long. How much
sooner could it have ended?

Given his standing in Israel, Trump could have done this months ago.
Allowing Netanyahu to blow up the ceasefire and cut off aid was
inexcusable.

Could President Biden have done more? Those of us who served in his
administration must grapple with that honestly.

This deal isn’t far from ideas many of us, both in and out of government,
were discussing weeks after October 7 – or principles accepted by both
sides just months into the war. It’s a framework J Street and our allies
have long been pressing for.

If Biden had leveraged US power and his political capital in Israel, could
he have stopped the war and gotten hostages home just months into the
horror? We’ll never know.

I’m haunted by what a former senior IDF official told me after I left the
White House: “Our initial plans for Gaza were to fight for three months
and then stop. We assumed you – the Americans – would make us stop. But
you never did.”

Now, Gaza lies in ruins. Tens of thousands dead. Over 100,000 injured.
Hostages robbed of years of their lives; others killed in captivity or
during rescue attempts. Over a million left homeless. Starvation and
disease will continue to kill. Trauma will last generations.

We cannot bring anyone back, but we can fight like hell to make sure these
horrors are never repeated. Too many have lost too much to go backwards
now.

A plan is on the table: To stabilize Gaza. Empower a technocratic
government. Reform the Palestinian Authority. To move toward what we call
a “23-state solution.”

Whether this comes to pass – or whether it’s window dressing on another
medium-term ceasefire – will depend on the resolve and determination of
our leaders.

We are at an inflection point. “Conflict management” is dead. Netanyahu’s
path of empowering Hamas while strangling the PA has failed horrifically.
The US and Gulf states now understand there’s no regional stability
without resolving this conflict.

Whether this moment becomes a true turning point will depend greatly on
the strength of American leadership – and the pressure and focus all of us
bring to bear.

Peace, after all, isn’t built by ink and signatures, but by people:
Rebuilding lives. Demanding better. Choosing coexistence over vengeance.

Together, let’s recommit to that work. Now and in the difficult days
ahead.

Yours in hope,

Ilan Goldenberg
Chief of Policy, J Street

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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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