Representative Madeleine Dean of Glenside responded today to a Gaza ceasefire deal which included the release of 20 remaining hostages to Israel.
The deal, titled the “Trump Peace Agreement”, was signed in Egypt on Monday by President Donald Trump and several other world leaders. An excerpt from the agreement:
We support and stand behind President Trump’s sincere efforts to end the war in Gaza and bring lasting peace to the Middle East. Together, we will implement this agreement in a manner that ensures peace, security, stability, and opportunity for all peoples of the region, including both Palestinians and Israelis.
We understand that lasting peace will be one in which both Palestinians and Israelis can prosper with their fundamental human rights protected, their security guaranteed, and their dignity upheld.
The 20 surviving hostages were released “after 738 agonizing days in captivity,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. NBC News published biographies of each hostage today.
Israel freed around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, according to CNN. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a 1967 graduate of Cheltenham High School, was not present at the signing and cited the Jewish holiday as the reason for his absence, ABC News reported.
“Our enemies now understand just how powerful and just how determined Israel is,” Netanyahu said in a speech. “These monsters take babies as hostages. Israel did what it had to do.”
“Israel, with our help, has won all that they can by force of arms,” Trump said in a speech. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
From Representative Dean’s post:
Today is a joyful day.
After two excruciating years of war between Israel and Hamas; after the barbaric murders of more than 1,200 Israelis and the capture of 250 hostages, including Americans; after the man-made starvation and utter inhumanity that has killed as many as 67,000 innocent Palestinians, including thousands of children — there is peace in action.
The last of the living hostages are returning home to reunite with their families. And may the remains of those deceased be returned swiftly — to be honored and buried with dignity.
Desperately-needed aid is being brought into starving Gaza.
And a plan for the day after is finally being realized.
There is a long, complex road ahead. Yet today we are one step closer to the Jewish teaching of “Tikkun Olam” — the call to repair the world.
I thank President Trump for his leadership in this agreement, one that has taken the dedication of a coalition of world leaders.
May there be healing. May we see a plan for a lasting peace. And may God bless the many peacemakers among us, for they shall be called children of God.
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Photo: Yoan Valat/EPA/Shutterstock