Aaron David Miller

My experience in negotiations, they work.

That is to say, deals are cut when there is urgency.

And urgency is a function of two things.

How much pain the parties are under and what are the prospects for gain.

My experience in negotiations, they work.

That is to say, deals are cut when there is urgency.

An urgency is a function of two things.

How much pain the parties are under and what are the prospects for gain.

Look, the reality, this is not the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

This is not the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.

Agreements succeed or fail when they're tested over time.

This is not even a peace agreement.

What this is...

and I don't want to take anything away from what this is, is a remarkable moment.

I worked on this process largely in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations since the 1980s.

Any agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, let alone one between two combatants who are pledged to one another's mutual destruction, is an extraordinary achievement.

What this is...

is a chance after two years of Israelis and Palestinians visiting a parade of horrific horrors on one another.

What this is, is the possibility of ending the war in Gaza and maybe building a broader bridge so that Israelis and Palestinians can find a pathway forward.

You know, I do, and I usually don't, having failed largely over a quarter of a century in helping to create circumstances for conflict-ending agreement between Israel and Palestinians.