The long-sought and torturously negotiated Gaza ceasefire agreement announced Wednesday is the result in part of a remarkable collaboration between President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump, who temporarily put aside animosity mutual to achieve a common goal.
The two presidents ordered their advisers to work together to push Israel and Hamas over the finish line toward an agreement to halt the fighting that has devastated Gaza and free hostages who have been held there for 15 months. The deal is expected to begin Sunday, the day before Biden hands over the White House to Trump.
Each president had his own interest in resolving the issue before Inauguration Day. For Biden, the deal, if it holds, represents a final vindication under his watch, what he hopes will be an end to the deadliest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while freeing both Americans and Israelis from captivity. For Trump, the deal, for now, takes an important issue off the table as he opens up a second term, freeing him to pursue other priorities.
The dramatic development, just five days before the transfer of power in the United States, went against the grain of Washington, where presidents of opposing parties rarely work in tandem during a transition, even in the face of a major crisis. But the political planets quickly returned to their normal orbits as both sides argued over who deserved credit for resolving the standoff.
While Biden waited for official news from the region, Trump got the better of him by revealing the deal himself in a capitalized social media post. “This EPIC ceasefire agreement could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in November,” he added soon after.
When Biden appeared before cameras at the White House later in the afternoon, he was more gracious, noting that the two teams spoke with one voice. But he bristled when asked who deserved credit, him or Trump. “Is this a joke?” he asked.
Still, the partnership, however awkward and thorny, stood out in an era of deep polarization. “It’s really extraordinary,” said Mara Rudman, who served as deputy special envoy for Middle East peace under President Barack Obama. “Everyone talks about who gets the credit, but the fact is that it’s shared and part of the reason it worked is that it’s shared.”
This is not to say that this would have led to lasting synergy on this or other issues. “This was a case where the right thing to do was also in line with people’s best political interests,” said Ms. Rudman, now a scholar at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
Whatever the final distribution of credit, diplomats, officials and analysts said it seems clear that both presidents played an important role. The deal that was ultimately reached was essentially the same one that Biden had put on the table last May and which his envoys, led by Brett H. McGurk, his Middle East coordinator, had worked painstakingly to make acceptable to both sides.
At the same time, Trump’s imminent return to power and his menacing threat that “all hell will break loose” if the hostages were not released by the time he was sworn in, clearly changed the calculations of the conflicting parties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the beneficiary of so much support from Trump during his first term, could not take for granted that the new president would support him if he prolonged the war during his second term.
Indeed, it was significant that Netanyahu, nicknamed Bibi, first called Trump to thank him after the deal was announced and only then called Biden. In a statement, Netanyahu highlighted his gratitude to Trump “for his remarks that the United States will work with Israel to ensure that Gaza will never be a terrorist haven.” Mr. Biden was not mentioned until the fourth paragraph and only in a single sentence in which he “also” thanked him for his help.
Trump’s desire to force a deal went beyond typical public threats and extended to constructive assistance on the ground. He authorized Steve Witkoff, his longtime friend whom he chose as special envoy for the Middle East, to work with McGurk to pressure the negotiators to finalize the deal. Mr. McGurk and his team were happy to receive the help and use Mr. Witkoff’s support as leverage.
“This was Biden’s deal,” former Rep. Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey, wrote on social media, “but as much as I hate to say it, he couldn’t have done it without Trump — not so much because of Trump’s performative threats to Hamas, but its willingness to tell Bibi in no uncertain terms that the war had to end by January 20th.”
There were some Republicans willing to praise Biden for his efforts to forge the deal alongside Trump. “It’s great to see the Biden Administration and the Trump Transition working together to get this deal done,” Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote on social media.
Few transitions have seen such a moment of intersection of interests. In the midst of the Great Depression, defeated President Herbert Hoover tried to convince President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt to work together to address a banking crisis, only to be rebuffed by an incoming leader who did not want to be tied to his predecessor. .
An even more disturbing example occurred 44 years ago, when President Jimmy Carter worked until the final hours of his presidency to free 52 American hostages held in Iran without the help of his successor, President-elect Ronald Reagan. Indeed, some evidence has emerged to suggest that people around Reagan tried to discourage Iran from releasing the hostages before the election out of fear that it would help Carter, although official investigations never verified this.
Carter eventually reached a deal to free the hostages, but in a final insult Iran held the planes with Americans on board until moments after Reagan was sworn in on January 20, 1981. That memory was not lost on Mr. Biden’s team in recent weeks, especially after Carter’s death last month. Administration officials and their allies in recent days have mulled morbidly about the possibility of history repeating itself.
The impending change in political leadership in the United States was not the only factor driving negotiations over the war on Gaza. The situation on the ground has changed dramatically since Biden first unveiled his ceasefire proposal in May.
Meanwhile, Israel has decapitated the Hamas leadership, nearly demolished its allied militia Hezbollah in Lebanon and eliminated major military facilities in Iran. The Biden-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon has left Hamas without a second front against Israel, further isolating it. And the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria has only strengthened the weakness of Iran and its allies and proxies.
But looming Inauguration Day in Washington has created a new deadline for action that’s hard to ignore. Trump said little during the campaign about the war, but when he did he made clear that he was not happy about it and urged Israel to end the matter as soon as possible because the harrowing images of death and destruction in Gaza were damaging Israel’s reputation on the war. international scene.
Furthermore, Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu has evolved since his first term, when he presented himself as the Israeli leader’s staunchest ally. Trump has cut aid to the Palestinians, moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli authority in the Golan Heights and presided over diplomatic overtures between Israel and many of its Arab neighbors.
But their ties soured in Trump’s final year in office, when he perceived Netanyahu to be taking advantage of them, and deteriorated further when the prime minister congratulated Biden on his victory in the 2020 election, which Trump continues to deny. Netanyahu has worked assiduously in recent months to reconcile with Trump.
As for Biden, his relationship with Netanyahu has been strained since the days immediately following the Hamas-led terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, when he flew to Israel and hugged the Israeli leader on the tarmac. Biden’s advisers and allies suspected that Netanyahu was deliberately delaying a ceasefire deal to deliver victory to Trump, in an attempt to kowtow to him.
Mr. Biden said nothing about it during his televised address on Wednesday. But after 15 months of trying to manage the Middle East crisis and avert a broader regional war, he appeared relieved to see the end come.
“I am deeply satisfied that this day has come, has finally come, for the sake of the people of Israel and the families who wait in agony and for the sake of the innocent people of Gaza who have suffered unimaginable devastation due to war,” he said. stated Mr. Biden said.
He referred to working with Trump without mentioning him by name. “I would also like to note that this agreement was developed and negotiated under my administration,” Biden said, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. “But its terms will largely be implemented by the next administration. In recent days we have spoken as one team.”
Asked about Trump’s role, Biden noted that the ceasefire was “the exact framework of the deal I proposed in May” and claimed credit for giving Israel the support it needed to weaken Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. “I knew this agreement would have to be implemented by the next team,” he added, “so I told my team to coordinate closely with the incoming team to make sure we all spoke with the same voice because that’s what American presidents do.” .”
Mr. Trump did not mention the role of his predecessor’s team and left the impression in his social media posts that he carried out the deal alone.
“We accomplished so much without even being in the White House,” he wrote. “Imagine all the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House and my administration is fully confirmed, so they can deliver more victories for the United States!”