Ben Gurion famously proclaimed, “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles”. Trump’s proposal for the United States to develop Gaza into a peaceful and prosperous territory straddles the fine line between the madman and the divinely inspired miracle worker.

Voices from the madman camp are numerous enough not to need further expression. Voices that envisioned a miracle, which would allow Gaza to have a successful future with a Jewish presence, were stifled by the past political climate.

The miracle camp based their hope on the rightful presence of Jews in Gaza from the beginning of Biblical history. Abraham, Samson, Joshua, David, and Solomon all have a historical role in Gaza. Jews have lived there throughout the Babylonian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, and Ottoman periods, and from 1976 to 2005.

Israel’s recent military accomplishments and the political clout of Trump and Netanyahu’s “peace through strength” program create a political climate that allows the unbroken belief in this miracle to become a reality. The United States and Israel represent a potent partnership with a record of past and recent successes, militarily and economically.

For three-quarters of a century, compromise solutions for a two-state solution were rejected by the Palestinian Arabs. Instead of Gaza becoming a test case for a future state, it has literally blown itself up by committing the atrocities that buried the two-state "solution". This confirms that from Arafat to Hamas and Hezbollah, the Palestinian Arabs do not want a two-state solution. The Palestinian Arab mantra “from the river to sea “chanted around the world indicates they want a one-state solution.

Seventy-five years of rejecting generous compromise plans forced the one-state solution to be the only realistic plan. Despite starting and losing multiple wars, they have never had to accept the traditional consequences of defeat, which is to sue for peace and accept the terms of the victor. The brutality of Hamas’ recent genocidal and barbaric attack and Israel’s vow to pursue victory changes the equation. Netanyahu’s repeated vow to eliminate Hamas from Gaza, the miraculous dismembering of Hezbollah, and the impending neutralization of Iran, together with Trump’s recent Gaza proposal, finally leaves the Palestinian Arabs with no option except to sue for peace and accept the terms of the victor. As Douglas Murray has opined, when a people repeatedly start and lose wars, they pay a price.

America’s success in reconstructing Europe and Germany after World War II is a precedent for turning a miracle into a reality. The European Recovery Program (ERP), dubbed the Marshall Plan, credits the Secretary of State George Marshall for his genius in leadership and strategic vision. The details were formulated by Dean Acheson, George Kennan, and other heads of economic agencies. Importantly, the plan focused on economic reconstruction rather than charity. The economic recovery after the massive wartime devastation, especially in Germany, measures the Marshall Plan’s success.

My historian friends will object that the Middle East isn’t comparable to post-war Europe. Many bold initiatives seem more like miraculous wishful thinking until they are realized. Despite challenges, enough parallel strands exist that can be woven into a plan that threads the needle. The Middle East has Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid um, the visionary business genius who transformed Dubai into a global economic powerhouse independent of oil revenue, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the strategic modernizer who promoted AI, defense industries, renewable energy, and strategic partnerships such as normalizing relationships with Israel through the Abraham accords. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other oil-rich Arab nations have the economic resources.

The Abraham Accords seemed as improbable as the current plan to develop Gaza after relocating Gazans. My same historian friends mocked the seemingly absurd idea that Jared Kushner would bring peace to the Middle East. Although Trump’s 2020 “Peace to Prosperity” incentivized by a $50 billion investment fund failed, the facts on the ground today are different.

The two-state idea is dying a slow death in the Western world. It is dead amongst Israelis who realize that the Gaza pogrom was a preview on a small scale of what would be unleashed from a Palestinian Arab state in the Jewish heartland. Although Saudi Arabia and moderate Arab countries such as the Emirates voice public support for the Palestinian Arabs, behind the scenes, they recognize that perpetuating this fantasy is blocking the potential boom in security and well-being of the region.

Trump’s 2025 plan for Gaza is a logical next step for expanding the Abraham Accords. Perhaps the converging presence of a Western leader and Middle Eastern Sheikhs with records of economic success is not a coincidence.

Details of the plan have been sparse. Below are specifics that can flesh out the evolving Trump Plan.

•Complete victory against Hamas needs to be completed so they no longer have a military or political presence in Gaza.

•Iran must be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons and rendered incapable of supporting proxies through negotiations or, most likely, through a military solution that results in regime change.

•The U.S. taking possession at least temporarily avoids the criticism of Israel engaging in a land grab to occupy more territory.

•Trump’s openness to relocating Gazans is not ethnic cleansing and violation of international laws and should be implemented.

•As Arabs live in Israel today, so will those who recognize Israel be allowed to live in Gaza, consistent with America and Israel’s identity as democratic and non-apartheid states.

•Any return hinges on a sustained program of de-radicalization of Gazans analogous to the de-Nazification of Germans after WWII. The Marshall Plan began only in 1948 after three years of American occupation, during which the successful de-Nazification program was implemented, including the following elements:

Removal of Nazis from power; trials that prosecuted those responsible for war crimes against humanity and genocide; re-education and purging Nazi symbols, literature, and ideology; dismissal of teachers with Nazi ties; new textbooks for schools; the U.S. taking control of the Nazi propaganda system of radio, newspapers, and films to promote a different ideology; economic confiscations of Nazi property; promoting democracy, and barring Nazis from holding office.

Note the similarity and appropriateness of the steps needed then and now. Replacing the term Nazi with Hamas provides the elements of what can succeed again.

•Gradual, systematic repopulation of the territory using immigration standards applied by countries that restrict entry of terrorists, criminals, or any who do not pledge loyalty to the political entity, whether nation-state or territory. Preference would be given based on fulfilling the needs of the territory, including real estate developers, construction workers, health workers, farmers, high-tech workers, and professionals. Entry would be open to Jews and Arabs meeting strict standards of security and merit. Trump’s developing U.S. border policy provides a model for this system that will reduce the past problem in Gaza that allowed relentless terror to drive out Israelis in 2005.

Golda Meir opined that “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us”. Many moderate Arabs have prioritized the love of their children more. The Trump Plan can bring a better life for those benighted children of Gaza and a safer place for Israelis and the world.

Dr. Robert M. Schwartz,who holds a Ph.D., is a psychologist and former assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He has published pioneering scientific articles on positive psychology and social and political commentaries in the American Spectator, Jerusalem Post, Arutz Sheva, Christian Science Monitor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and American Thinker.