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Gaza ceasefire deal is a win for Trump

The US President-elect gave Netanyahu and his Cabinet a binary choice to sign on or alienate his administration. It worked.

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US President-elect Donald Trump’s pressure could work in Gaza now because – unlike in Ukraine – both parties to the conflict have more to gain from ending the war.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pressure could work in Gaza now because – unlike in Ukraine – both parties to the conflict have more to gain from ending the war.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Marc Champion

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“We have a deal,” US President-elect Donald Trump

said on his social media channel Truth Social,

as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire on Jan 15. He will get much of the credit if this marks the end of what has been a brutal war – and he’ll deserve it. 

It isn’t that he or his foreign policy team came up with a new solution. As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to highlight in a valedictory speech at Washington’s Atlantic Council on Jan 14,

the deal on offer

appears to have changed very little since its last-minute rejection by Israel months ago.

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