The guns are quiet for the first time since Oct. 7, 2023. After two long and harrowing years, Israeli hostages have returned home. The world is finally exhaling — cautiously, collectively — wondering what comes next.
Two years later, the memories of that day remain seared into our conscience. The slaughter, the kidnappings, the desecration of life and faith – acts so cruel they seemed to rupture civilization itself. The question now is not whether we remember, but how we move forward. After everything that has happened, how do we ensure that such barbarism never happens again?
How do we turn the page to Oct. 8 and write a new story for the whole of the Middle East?
How do we raise the generation of Oct. 8, one capable of forgiveness without forgetting, of rebuilding without erasing history, of replacing vengeance with vision? How do we heal?
We heal by reviving the shared values of empathy, education, enterprise and by translating those values into policy. The Abraham Accords, signed under Trump’s leadership in 2020, provides a glimpse of what this could look like: Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Emiratis, Bahrainis and Moroccans, trading, partnering, and creating together. Flights, investments, cultural exchanges — proof that the region can be defined by growth, not grievance. A mere decade ago an Israeli passport could not enter Dubai; today, nearly a quarter of a million Israelis visit the UAE each year. For the first time in memory, the Middle East looks like a region not defined by its endless wars, but one of powerful economic renaissance.
President Donald Trump’s proposed 20-point peace plan builds on that same spirit. It offers a pragmatic carrot and stick approach: a clear pathway to Palestinian statehood when it is earned through peace, governance, and accountability. It takes a firm stance against violence and terrorism. It calls for the complete removal of Hamas, the establishment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) as a de-confliction mechanism, and guarantees of no annexation, no land grabs, and no occupation of Gaza. It is not perfect, but it is coherent. For the first time in years, it gives both sides a solid roadmap.
History tells us reconciliation is possible. In the 20th century, Germany and France, once mortal foes, forged the European Union through economic interdependence. The Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, brokered by President Carter in 1978, transformed decades of enmity into enduring peace. And more recently, interfaith dialogues such as the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue and King Abdullah’s Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) have demonstrated that respectful dialogue between faiths can defuse tensions and humanize “the other.”
The path forward for Israel and Palestine must draw from these precedents. It requires an alliance not only of governments but of moral forces paired with Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace:” World leaders, together with rabbis, imams, priests, educators, and civic leaders who believe in a future defined by shared humanity will pave the way. Under their leadership, dialogue will become policy and education will become defense.
Palestinian schools must replace indoctrination with STEM, civics, and commerce; and economic opportunity should become their new form of resistance. The Palestinian child should dream of architecture, medicine, and trade; the Israeli child should grow up believing peace is feasible, not fanciful.
Before Oct. 7, polls showed that approximately one third of Israelis believed in a two-state solution. Today, that number is thinner. The trauma runs deep: The Nakba for Palestinians, and generations of persecution for the Jews and at the forefront of their minds, the Holocaust and Oct.7. Both are open wounds and healing them will take time, trust, humility, and courage. But for the first time in years, there exists a credible roadmap and a coalition of willing partners who understand that prosperity, not intransigent ideologies, must lead the way.
Today, the choice rests with Israelis and Palestinians whether to remain trapped in cycles of revenge, or to step into the future envisioned by the Abraham Accords and reaffirmed in Trump’s peace framework. The path is not easy, but it is illuminated: remove Hamas and free the Palestinians.
For the past two years, voices have flooded streets and campuses around the world in support of the Palestinians. Now more than ever, those same voices must be raised and heard for peace by demanding the unconditional removal of Hamas, the decommissioning of its weapons, and the liberation of Palestinian civic life so the region can prosper, educate their children, and the Palestinian people can at long last earn its statehood through accountable self-government. Anything less rewards the very terror that keeps Palestinians poor and stateless.
Oct. 8 is not a date but a future-oriented mindset built upon a promise that the Middle East becomes a hub of innovation, not incitement; where peace is a product not of diplomats, but of teachers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. A builder’s blueprint exists in President Trump’s 20 point plan. The question now is simple: Who will build the future of a prosperous and peaceful Middle East and who will keep digging and funding its terror tunnels?
Margaux Chetrit is a writer, public speaker and entrepreneur. She is a former parliamentary intern in Israel’s Knesset. From 2008-2015, she served at the Consulate General of Israel in Montreal.
