Editorial: Peace plan will end war, one way or another

The Detroit News Editorial Board, The Detroit News on Oct 2, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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An end to the killing and destruction in Gaza is within reach if Hamas finally acts in the best interest of the Palestinian people rather than its own murderous ambitions.

The 20-point peace plan offered by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday is a potential solution to both ending the war and providing the Palestinians with a route toward a secure and prosperous future.

Its implementation depends on Hamas taking the deal and then fading away as a military and political force, a positive but still uncertain outcome.

If Hamas refuses, the war most certainly will go forward with renewed intensity. Hamas is regrouping for what it is calling the final battle in Gaza City, which Israel seeks to capture. It's a hopeless fight for Hamas, and will only lead to more dead Palestinians.

"Israel will finish the job," the prime minister vowed. "This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done."

With 66,000 Palestinians killed in the two-year war, triggered by a Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Gazans displaced and starving, Hamas surely must know Netanyahu is serious. He has not bowed to internal or international pressure for a ceasefire and, with his threat fully endorsed by Trump, he is unlikely to do so.

This peace plan differs from all previous pacts to end hostilities between Israel and Hamas that perpetuated a cycle of Palestinian provocation, Israeli response and international pressure to restore the status quo.

If implemented, this blueprint will restructure Gaza with the objective of both deradicalizing Palestinian society and demilitarizing the terrorists. It also puts in place mechanisms for assuring its terms are carried out.

The key piece of the pact requires Hamas to lay down its arms and relinquish the remaining Israeli hostages, dead and alive, taken in the Oct. 7 raid. When that happens, Israel will stop military action and begin a measured withdrawal. It will also agree not to annex Gazan territory.

The deal demands that Hamas members who want to stay in Gaza pledge to peacefully coexist with Israel. The pledge stops short of recognizing the right of the Jewish state to exist, but it effectively neuters Hamas as a threat to Israel. Those who refuse to take the pledge will be allowed safe passage to countries willing to accept them.

Israel will have achieved its two primary objectives of the war: Recovering its hostages and destroying Hamas.

And Palestinians will be rid of the bloodthirsty overseers who used them so callously. With Hamas gone, Gaza will be governed by a technocratic, apolitical committee of Palestinians who will be charged with managing the rebuilding of the territory and the distribution of humanitarian and economic aid, which will resume immediately.

Oversight of the committee will come from an international Board of Peace, chaired by Trump, and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. An international peace-keeping force made up largely of Arab nations will help assure Hamas is not allowed to reemerge. Details of how this will work are still to come.

Significantly, terrorists will no longer be in charge of schools, hospitals, mosques, the government and the media, opening an opportunity to refocus the Palestinians on building a homeland that nurtures their own people instead of destroying Israel.

The pact allows Gazans to stay put, and promises a massive rebuilding effort financed by the international community to help the territory reach its full potential.

Throughout this war, Israel has had to battle for its right to defend itself and eliminate the constant threat to its security. Despite condemnation from other nations, many of whom chose to recognize Palestinian statehood rather than demand Hamas end its terrorism, Israel has pursued its mission with remarkable effectiveness.

It has helped topple the bloody Assad regime in Syria, crippled Hezbollah in Lebanon, weakened the Houthi rebels in Yemen and destroyed Iran's nuclear weapons capability. The region is a less volatile place thanks to Israel's determination.

The campaign will inevitably end with the destruction of Hamas, as Netanyahu vowed, by either the easy way or the hard way. Those calling for an end to the killing in Gaza should raise their voices in urging Hamas to take the deal.

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