Thread by @ABlinken

(1/12) In Gaza today, the guns are largely silent. If all goes as planned, the remaining Israeli hostages will return home. Palestinians will get the relief they desperately need and deserve. Nothing can erase the pain and loss of the past two years. But there is real hope of building on this step to finally end the war. President Trump and his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner deserve our collective thanks for producing this ceasefire and the renewed possibility of lasting peace.

A few reflections on how we reached this moment and where it could lead:

(2/12) First, what changed to make this breakthrough possible? Hamas is finally and fully isolated. Arab states and Turkey have said “enough.” The misery Hamas provoked and would allow to persist has delegitimized it among most Gazans. And Hamas realized that the cavalry (Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis) are not coming to the rescue.

(3/12) Israel has long since achieved its war aims -- destroying Hamas as an organized military force so October 7 can never be repeated and eliminating those responsible for its horrors – but at terrible cost to Palestinian civilians caught in a crossfire they did not start and were powerless to stop. Only the hostages remained. Israelis want them home and the war to end, putting pressure on the Israeli government to take the deal, not move the goalposts.

(4/12) In the coming days we can expect to see joyful images: of hostages reunited with their loved ones and the people of Gaza getting respite from the war and receiving the help they need. We’ve seen these images before. Under President Biden’s watch, we secured the release of 135 hostages and, in January 2025 we handed over a ceasefire with Israeli forces pulling back, tens of thousands of aid trucks going into Gaza and a post conflict plan for a permanent end to hostilities.

(5/12) That moment was squandered. Israel and Hamas went back to war. The question now is how to make this moment endure. How can we ensure that Israel fully withdraws in security, that Hamas does not return, that Palestinians can begin to rebuild their lives, and that the war does not resume? How can we build a lasting peace?

(6/12) It starts with a clear and comprehensive post conflict plan for Gaza. It’s good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden Administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It centers on temporary, transitional authorities for Gaza’s governance, security, humanitarian assistance, and rebuilding, led by Arab and international partners alongside Palestinians, backed by the United States, and ultimately handed over to full Palestinian control.

(7/12) The post conflict plan should be implemented as soon as possible, with eyes wide open about its challenges: pulling together the international stabilization force, fully demilitarizing and disarming Hamas, dealing with insurgents, expeditiously securing a phased but full Israeli withdrawal.

(8/12) I also commend President Trump for reaffirming the key principles we established for Gaza at the outset of the war -- no platform for terrorism, no annexation, no occupation, no forced population transfers -- and for making clear the overall goal is to create the conditions for a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.

(9/12) Ending the war and working toward a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is not a reward to Hamas but the ultimate rebuke. Hamas has spent decades trying to destroy the two-state vision through terrorism: after Oslo in 1993, after the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002, and again in October 2023, when it sought to derail our promising efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which requires a credible path to Palestinian statehood. Finally and fully defeating Hamas is as much a political proposition as a military one. Otherwise, Hamas or its successors will continue to capture and pervert the idea of Palestinian self-determination focused not on the construction of a state but on the destruction of Israel.

(10/12) To those who say two states is a fantasy, I ask: tell me how this ends? No matter the delusions of extremists on both sides, the reality is this: the 7 million Israeli Jews, 2 million Israeli Arabs, and 5 million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are not going anywhere. Two states remains the only way for Israel to ensure its future as a secure, Jewish, democratic state and for Palestinians to achieve the state they deserve. I set out here a time-bound, conditions-based roadmap to recognition that answers Palestinian aspirations and Israel’s need for security.
wsj.com/opinion/recogn…

(11/12) A durable peace in Gaza and a credible path to Palestinian statehood alongside a secure Israel can also re-energize the game changing effort to normalize Israel’s relations with all its neighbors – integrating it into the region economically, diplomatically and in terms of security, while further isolating Iran unless it changes course.

(12/12) Tremendous challenges lie ahead that will require sustained focus, pressure and persistence to overcome. But President Trump has a historic opportunity to help make that vision real. I pray for his success, and the success of everyone working toward that goal, because peace, once achieved, belongs to no single leader or nation. It belongs to all who have suffered… to all who, despite everything, have kept the hope of peace alive and never stopped working to achieve it…and to all who will enjoy lives of security, dignity and opportunity when lasting peace is finally achieved.