After a pivotal Allied victory, years into World War II, Winston Churchill famously proclaimed that when it came to hopes for the end of the war, it was “not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”

That sort of expectations setting is not President Donald Trump’s style. Appearing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to present a new 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza, Trump declared it “one of the great days ever in civilization,” and suggested he was close not just to ending the war that has been raging for close to two years — but to bringing “eternal peace” after thousands of years of conflict in the Middle East.

That is probably slightly overstating things. But in fairness, there were some significant developments in Monday’s announcement, in between jokes about the pronunciation of the Abraham Accords and some digs at Joe Biden’s memory lapses. It’s notable that Netanyahu backed the peace plan at all — saying it “achieves our war aims” — just days after a defiant speech to the UN General Assembly in which he vowed to “finish the job” of entirely eliminating Hamas in Gaza by force.

Some of what’s in the peace plan itself is familiar from earlier ceasefire proposals. Hamas would release all remaining Israeli hostages, both alive and dead, within 72 hours. In exchange, Israel would release thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces would carry out a staged withdrawal to a security perimeter around the edges of the strip. Humanitarian aid would resume to the levels following the last temporary ceasefire in January. Hamas would disarm and renounce any role in governing Gaza.

But there are some seemingly new elements as well. While the plan envisions the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the West Bank, taking power in Gaza, this would only happen after significant reforms are undertaken. This language is consistent with the Saudi-French proposal put forward at the UN earlier this month. In the meantime, the temporary government of Gaza would be “made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts” and overseen by a “Board of Peace” that would include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and would be chaired by Trump himself.

The plan includes language affirming that “no one will be forced to leave Gaza,” which is notable given........

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