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Few people have been involved in more American efforts to broker peace in the Middle East than Aaron David Miller. A veteran State Department negotiator, he worked on Arab-Israeli relations for 15 years, including the Oslo Accords under Bill Clinton, and then in the George W. Bush administration.

How, then, does he assess President Donald Trump’s achievement this week? Trump has clearly oversold it, he says, including some “awfully grandiose statements” about its place in the pantheon of global peacemaking.

The day after: Gaza has been left in ruins and what comes next is still uncertain.Credit: AP

“It is not a peace agreement,” Miller tells this masthead in Washington. “It is not the most important peace agreement in 3000 years. It comes nowhere close to rivalling the Egyptian-Israeli or Israeli-Jordanian peace treaties.”

But, Miller says: “It is an extraordinary moment, delivered by a president who has acted in ways that are quite unprecedented. It could … offer a road map to end the war in Gaza on terms that normal people would regard as an actual end of the conflict.”

Former hostage Eitan Horn is welcomed home to Kfar Saba in Israel on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images

The positives of this week are obvious. After two years, the last live Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas are at home with their families; photographs and footage of the reunions provided a rare moment of hope in the otherwise long and bleak conflict. Some 2000 Palestinian prisoners were also released by Israel.

However, the ceasefire has been shaky. Israeli forces withdrew to an agreed line, and Palestinians returned to their homes – or what little is left of them. However, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli fire has killed at least 23 people since the ceasefire started only days ago.

Israel and Egypt are yet to reopen the border crossing into Gaza at Rafah, and Israel is restricting aid into the enclave while it presses Hamas to find and return more bodies of deceased hostages, with 19 still remaining.

Israel has committed to allowing in more aid, but the situation remains desperate for many Palestinians.Credit: AP

During a whirlwind trip to the region at the start of the week, Trump was welcomed to the Israeli Knesset as a hero, and returned to the United States triumphant in his highly dubious claim of having ended eight wars since January.

But, as Miller puts it: “After the celebration, the Monday morning blues kick in. People turn to each other and say: What are we going to do now?”

‘After the celebration, the Monday morning blues kick in. People turn to each other and say: What are we going to do now?’

That question is one for the whole world. While Trump has taken credit for the ceasefire (as well as crediting Qatar, Egypt and Turkey), the next phase will require a truly global effort to demilitarise Gaza, ensure aid is delivered, manage negotiations with Israel and Hamas, raise money and start rebuilding the shattered........

© WA Today