Perry World House: Four perspectives on the Middle East ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas
Penn experts share their thoughts of the ceasefire plan, and what the next steps are to achieving peace between Israel and Hamas.
2 min. read
On the morning of Friday, Oct. 10, a U.S.-drafted ceasefire agreement went into effect between Israel and Hamas, a step towards a peace agreement that would permanently end the more than two-years-long war. The agreement will see the Israeli military begin to withdraw from Gaza and release all Palestinian prisoners, with Hamas releasing their remaining Israeli hostages, and allow aid to begin filtering back into Gaza.
Penn’s Perry World House asked Guy Grossman, Marie Harf, Dahlia Scheindlin, and Ilana Shpaizman to provide their thoughts of the ceasefire plan, if they thought the plan was likely to last, and what the next steps are to achieving peace between Israel and Hamas.
“The ceasefire’s durability will ultimately hinge on whether both sides view continued restraint as serving their political interests—and whether external actors can help transform a temporary pause into a framework for governance and reconstruction,” says Grossman, the David M. Knott Professor of Global Politics and International Relations and co-director of the Penn Development Research Initiative. “Without clear sequencing, credible verification, and sustained diplomacy, the agreement risks becoming yet another fragile pause in an unresolved cycle of confrontation.”
“In a conflict as long-standing and complex as the one between Israelis and Palestinians, first step agreements such as this ceasefire deal are important,” adds Harf, executive director of Perry World House. “If the Israeli hostages come home, and if significant aid gets into Gaza and the guns fall silent there (even if only temporarily), these will be developments to celebrate.”
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