Can the New Year be Approached with Hope?
By Roger Cohen
The New York Times
Dec. 28, 2025
"From the rubble and the ruin, the torture and the terror, the dust and the debris, something is stirring in the Middle East, a spirit that says no to endless cycles of violence and values a future for the region’s children above past feuds…
"…the Trump administration said in its National Security Strategy that the region was 'emerging as a place of partnership, friendship and investment…'
"But not everything has been solved overnight by a presidential signature.
"Already, the Gaza accord looks frayed. Israel and Hamas skirmish for advantage. Everything about the peace plan’s next phase — the planned international stabilization force, disarming Hamas, an Israeli withdrawal and the role of the Palestinian Authority — appears contentious…
"Even so, very few want a return to war. During repeated visits over several months across the region, hope alternated with horror. What was perhaps most striking was a quiet resolve among many people to side with promise over despair and destruction…
"Exhaustion can offer space to talk, especially when accompanied by a shuffling of the Middle Eastern deck so far-reaching that it seems to contain at least the possibility of changed mind-sets…
"Given the great well of hatred that persists across the region, any rational argument would probably conclude that Mr. Trump’s 'historic dawn' of peace across the region will be stillborn, like so many attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian and other conflicts…
"Yet, the poet Victor Hugo wrote: 'Nothing is more imminent than the impossible.'"
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Empowering the next generation of American, Israeli, and Palestinian change-makers to embrace better, together.
אנחנו מכנסים הוגים מובילים, פעילים חברתיים, ומחוללי שינוי לעתיד, אמריקאים, ישראלים ופלסטינאים, המחויבים לשיפור החברות שלהם.
نحن أمريكيون وإسرائيليون وفلسطينيون نبني ونكوّن روابط من أجل التعلم والتفكير والمشاركة معًا حتى نشجع الحلول التقدمية بشأن القضايا التي تهمنا جميعًا.