The path to a durable peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians that President Donald Trump is pursuing will surely face hurdles and setbacks ahead, and success in that long struggle is hardly guaranteed.
But on Oct. 13, there was joy in the morning.
"After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today, the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace," Trump told the Israeli Knesset in a triumphant 65-minute address marked by asides and interrupted by applause. "Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change."
There was jubilation on the streets of Tel Aviv and Gaza, and Trump, who is both praised and derided in his homeland, was greeted almost everywhere as a hero.
After two years, the brutal war that started with Hamas' seizure of hostages and led to Israel's bombardment of Gaza was stilled. Hamas released the final 20 living hostages and began the transfer of the remains of those who had died. Israel began the release of Palestinian prisoners, pulled back its forces and allowed humanitarian aid to resume.
That said, it was at least premature to declare, as Trump did, that the ceasefire was "the historic dawn of a new Middle East." The accords were just the first steps to a process that, it is hoped, will rebuild Gaza and ensure Israel's security.
Without those first steps, though, all those that must follow would be all but impossible to imagine.
Trump outlined soaring aspirations in his speech to Israel's parliament: "Stability, safety, dignity and economic development" in the devastated Palestinian territory of Gaza, and a Middle East where today's enemies and adversaries would be "partners, and eventually even friends."
Peace in Ukraine-Russia? What about Iran?
His speech didn't begin until hours after it was scheduled, and just in time for the morning shows on U.S. television, about 7 a.m. on the East Coast. He was relaxed and expansive, often straying from his formal text to tease Netanyahu and to introduce members of his traveling party to applause, including negotiator Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Cain.
He urged Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant a pardon to Netanyahu, who is standing trial in Israeli courts on three corruption charges.
He denigrated predecessor Joe Biden as the “worst president in the history of our country by far" and said Barack Obama “was not far behind.”
And he credited himself with now settling an eighth war − though some of the combatants in the previous seven dispute his accounts − and noted his hopes of adding a ninth in the war that started with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He even suggested a "peace deal" with Iran, Israel's mortal foe.
"Would you be happy with that?" he asked, to just a smattering of applause. "Wouldn't it be nice?
'The peace president'
Some of the legislators in the Israeli parliament were wearing red MAGA-style caps that read, "TRUMP THE PEACE PRESIDENT."
Trump's leadership traits and personal relationships may have made a ceasefire deal possible that would have eluded other presidents.
He had backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even as much of the world turned against his hammering of Gaza; that gave the president the power to force Bibi's cooperation in the end. Trump's mercurial reputation and his comfort unleashing military force − just ask Venezuelans and Iranians about that − meant Hamas took him seriously when, in a text to CNN's Jake Tapper, he vowed "Complete Obliteration" if they didn't agree.
With that, he won the sort of historic moment presidents yearn to experience.
Think of Obama in 2010 signing the Affordable Care Act, the culmination of decades of efforts to expand health care coverage. Or Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev reaching the Intermediate Range Nuclear-Forces Treaty in 1987, launching a partnership that would mark the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
Or Jimmy Carter in 1978, witnessing the signing of the Camp David Accords by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
Carter's example may be particularly instructive, both in the possibilities it sparked and the limits it encountered.
Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize for reaching the framework agreements between Egypt and Israel, a first in the Arab world. But the accords failed to resolve the Palestinian question, and opposition among some Egyptians would lead to Sadat's assassination in 1981.
As for Carter, accolades abroad didn't boost his political prospects at home. He was defeated in his bid for a second term in 1980 amid turmoil over economic stagnation, inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis.
Disarming Hamas and creating a Palestinian state
After the Knesset speech, Trump was headed to the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh for a summit on Gaza co-chaired by him and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, with more than 20 world leaders set to attend. "The wealthiest and most powerful group ever assembled at one time," Trump said, "and they're only looking for good."
It was a sign of the fits and starts ahead when U.S. and Israeli officials first told reporters that Netanyahu had unexpectedly accepted an invitation to attend, only to have Israeli officials later say he had declined because of the proximity of the Jewish religious holiday Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah.
The next steps will almost certainly be harder: Disarming Hamas, something its leaders have rejected. Recognizing Palestinian aspirations for statehood, which Netanyahu says he will never allow. Imposing international security guarantees to prevent a new war from erupting. Rebuilding a devastated Gaza.
First, though, Monday, Oct. 13, was a day for celebrations.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A triumphant Trump basks in Mideast praise and promises more
Reporting by Susan Page, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect