Visiting Israel, U.S. Vice President JD Vance expresses optimism about the rocky Hamas-Israel ceasefire and broader hopes for Middle East peace while refusing to set deadlines for Hamas to disarm or return all hostage bodies.
U.S. Middle East envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff express confidence in a “60 Minutes” interview that the Trump peace plan will succeed in Gaza after two years of the Hamas-Israel war.
Donald Trump takes a victory lap and lays out short- and long-term visions for Gaza, Israel and the Middle East while becoming the fourth U.S. president to address the Knesset.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, addressing the Knesset, praises Donald Trump for brokering the Gaza peace plan, calls on his fellow Israelis to renew their values-based democracy, and warns Israel’s enemies in the Middle East and beyond that the Jewish state is here to stay.
October 13, 2025 The final 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinians in Gaza were released October 13, 2025, under the peace plan proposed by President Donald Trump and accepted by Israel…
The U.S., Turkey, Qatar and Egypt commit to trying to implement President Trump’s vision for enduring peace in Gaza and the entire Middle East without offering details or obtaining the sign-on of Israeli or Palestinian officials.
In a Knesset speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu delivers effusive praise for President Trump’s Middle East peacemaking even though the U.S. plan appears to have put the support of key Muslim powers in the region ahead of sign-on from Israeli or Palestinian officials.
A memo obtained by multiple news organizations in early October 2025 explains the implementation plan for the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire.
Amid praise for the end of the war in Gaza and hopes for long-term peace, humanitarian aid and freed hostages, world leaders barely acknowledge Hamas exists, let alone that it bears any responsibility for the status of the Strip.
President Trump issued a presidential order placing Qatar under the military protection of the United States. He did not submit his policy for U.S. Senate ratification, as would be necessary for the staying power of a treaty. The U.S. had never offered such protection to an Arab country, let alone one that sits across the Persian Gulf from Iran. The action was viewed as a direct response to Israel’s intrusion into Qatar’s sovereignty three weeks earlier in a failed attack on Hamas leaders in Doha. But the order might have been a step toward including Qatar in the Abraham Accords. And Qatar is potentially a key funder in rebuilding the Gaza Strip.
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu explain their expansive vision for a peaceful Middle East through the implementation of a 20-point U.S. plan to end the Gaza war with the support of many Arab and Muslim countries.
A comprehensive U.S. plan to end the Hamas-Israel war is unveiled eight days before the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Seized by the severity of the Gaza war and nonmovement on a Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process, the U.N. offers a diplomatic road map to end the war and start negotiations. Led by France and Saudi Arabia, it asserts PA primacy as the legitimate Palestinian political representative, addresses possible Palestinian governance reform, seeks to empower a sovereign and economically viable state of Palestine living side by side in security with Israel, and contains other vague PA promises. Israel and the U.S. reject the Declaration. The Israeli government refuses to have outside parties determine the outlines or pace of negotiations with any country because negotiations impact Israeli security today and tomorrow.
Before a White House dinner, President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk about Gaza, Iran, Syria and Middle East peace.
June 2025 CIE has compiled the following list of books and articles, including some available on our website, to guide understanding of Israel’s capital, the holy city of Jerusalem. Books Adelman, Madelaine, and Miriam Fendius…
PA President Abbas makes requests and gives promises to the French president for the establishment of a Palestinian
state. His commitments were not negotiated with Israel. They are meant to seek support for the end of the Gaza war,
the affirmation of Abbas and the PA as the sole Palestinian political address, and international support for a Palestinian state.
As in the past, the PA and Abbas seek international support to pressure Israel into undesirable political actions.
Ken Stein, President, Center for Israel Education, May 19, 2025 Introduction Since 1937, the idea of geopolitically separating Jewish and Arab populations west of the Jordan River has been a recommended solution to mitigate violence between…
May 13, 2025 President Donald Trump’s address laying out a vision for Middle East peace and prosperity and ending sanctions on Syria at the 2025 Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, https://www.youtube.com/live/wj1QOz3iuCE?si=qQRR2GcqZhtt1F5o Well, thank…
Benjamin Netanyahu makes his second White House visit of Donald Trump’s second term, but the discussion this time expands beyond Gaza and regional peace to include bilateral trade after a Trump announcement of new tariffs on Israeli goods.
Meeting in Cairo in early March 2025, the Arab League of States endorsed an Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza that was, above all else, a cleverly worded statement. The contents did not break new diplomatic ground and made no mention of Hamas or its political future. As a consensus document, it aimed at satisfying as many Arab interests and foreign ears as possible.
Abdullah II remains studiously noncommittal in support of Donald Trump’s idea for the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip, rebuild it and relocate its Palestinian residents to other countries. With Jordan’s strong economic, strategic and defense ties to Washington, no one expected the king to be effusive for Trump’s suggestions for Gaza’s future. Jordan lacks the economic and demographic absorptive capacities and the political interest to take another wave of Palestinians into its territory.
Amid a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu becomes the first foreign leader to visit the White House during the second Trump administration, and President Donald Trump uses the occasion to declare his intention to take over and redevelop Gaza.
By Aidan New and Michael Jacobs (updated April 9) President Donald Trump’s second administration had an impact in the Middle East even before his inauguration Jan. 20, 2025: Special Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff was…
The details of the three-stage Hamas-Israel cease-fire that went into effect January 19, 2025, along with unanswered questions, insightful analyses and the relevant U.N. resolution from June 2024.
