“Blessed are the peacemakers,” concluded U.S. President Donald Trump in his statement announcing the agreement to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

This is a clever quote from the Bible, but it transcends its religious exclusivity to embrace a universal humanitarian message for all mankind.

The word “blessed” has been subject to many linguistic, literary, and religious interpretations. It is a shared word among several languages, said to originate from Aramaic, meaning “congratulations to you” or “well done.” In some traditions, it is one of the names of paradise in Abyssinian, and it is also described as a great tree in paradise, as mentioned in Ibn Kathir’s interpretation.

One of the most charming explanations comes from the Arab Muslim commentator Qatadah al-Sadusi, from the early Islamic generation known as the “Followers”. He said: “It is an Arabic word; when a man says ‘blessed to you,’ it means you have achieved good.”

We say to President Trump, as our scholar Qatadah said: you have achieved good, Mr. President Trump.

One day after the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack, indirect talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, resulted in an agreement on the first phase of the U.S. 20-point plan to stop the war.

This is just the beginning, as the wise know, of a long and thorny journey, but not impossible, to create lasting peace in Palestine and the rest of the region; because Palestine is “the mother of all issues” and the maker of stories.

The rounds of debate between the Hamas and Israeli delegations, supervised and managed by an international and Arab group led by the U.S. and hosted by Egypt, are a form of resuming confrontation in a non-military way. But the “determination” is clear today from President Trump to close these bloody pages and start the second chapter, or the next day as they say.

The intense pressure on Hamas is understood by Trump and the U.S., nothing new there, but what is striking is the “seriousness” of the American pressure this time on Netanyahu and his team. Trump revealed to Axios the content of his talk with Netanyahu: “I told him: this is your chance to win, and he agreed to that, and he must agree to it, he has no choice. With me, you have to agree.”

Reaching this “preparatory” stage was not easy; it was preceded by two years of a vicious war in Gaza, whose sparks spread to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Qatar, and possibly later Turkey and others.

This war tore the flesh of innocent Gaza residents with its fangs, also wounded thousands of Israelis, posed a real threat to Western security stability within Western societies themselves—not to mention Arab security—and created an international popular rejection wave against Israel and its supporters.

Many complex paths have led feet to this road today in Sharm El-Sheikh awaiting the next day…