The announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the Trump administration’s peace proposal marks a turning point in history. For the first time in years, adversaries have invoked the name of God while committing to release captives, halt violence, and open the gates of humanitarian relief. This is more than politics—it is the beginning of a covenantal moment.
Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders have publicly invoked divine help in their statements. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared, “With God’s help we will bring them all home.” Palestinian representatives likewise spoke of mercy and responsibility before Allah. These invocations elevate the peace process beyond the realm of power politics into the realm of sacred accountability.
This is precisely the moment to encourage leaders to seal their commitments not only with signatures on diplomatic papers, but with a Scroll of Covenant and Witness —a ceremonial document binding them before God, the Merciful and Loving, whose law of peace transcends borders.
It is vital to affirm that Hamas, in agreeing to this peace, is not surrendering to the Israeli Defense Forces or the United States. Rather, it is choosing what is right in the sight of Allah, the Most Loving and Merciful, in accordance with the teaching of Jesus—revered in the Qur’an as the Prophet of Peace.
The Prophet Muhammad himself revered the Torah as the Jewish Holy Book (see my public witness), and during his Night Journey he prayed with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus for God’s House of Israel (see testimony). These truths remind us that reverence for Israel as People of the Book is not foreign to Islam, but deeply rooted in its own tradition.
If Hamas surrenders only to earthly powers, then Hamas—or another extremist faction—will rise again, as Prime Minister Netanyahu has warned. But if Hamas surrenders to Allah, the Most Loving and Merciful, in repentance, then the collective conscience of humanity may be awakened. In that awakening, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian brethren can reclaim our birthright as sons and daughters of the Most Merciful God. For the truth remains: not only one nation, but the whole world must repent.
Since God is great—Allahu Akbar—all God’s children can experience redemption by seeing the light of His love. The Roman soldier Saul, who once hunted Christians, saw that light on the road to Damascus and became Saint Paul. This is a pattern of meaningful coincidence: that today, Damascus and Syria still bear the torch of freedom, not as puppets of empires, but as seekers of liberty under God’s covenant.
As I reflected in the Preface to the Sanctifying Scroll of Covenant and Surrender , even nations like China and Russia are summoned to rise above fascism and uphold a higher law—as taught by Saint Paul and the philosopher Confucius: the law of love.
For God has the power to encode the truth of His Word—Torah, Qur’an, and Gospel—into the heart, mind, and soul of whomever He wills. War is nothing less than the attempt to erase that encoding, to strip God’s children of the truth written within them. Yet the Word endures, as light in the darkness, as code that cannot be broken.
Peace today is fragile. Millions of Palestinian refugees remain displaced, and extremist factions may seek to exploit their suffering. Saudi Arabia’s vast financial resources, if misdirected, could fuel radicalization rather than reconstruction. Without a covenantal framework, violence could once again spill into the capitals of the region.
As I reflected in my article All God’s Children within the Human Family are CHOSEN People , the Jewish people—People of the Book—are chosen for a special purpose: to uphold God’s law of love around the world. Yet this chosenness is not theirs alone. All peoples and nations are chosen, each with a divine purpose yet to be revealed. That purpose cannot be fulfilled while war rages and blood is shed. The fragility of peace is not only political—it is spiritual, for war silences the callings of nations and individuals alike.
This is why peace must be sanctified—not only negotiated. A so‑called two‑state solution, if pursued as separation from God’s House of Israel, risks building walls where God calls for worship. The Zabur reminds us that Jewish and Arab brethren once sang songs of praise together. That unity of worship, not division of borders, is the true foundation of peace.
French President Emmanuel Macron has already convened an interministerial meeting in Paris with Spain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the UAE, alongside European and North American partners. These gatherings show that the nations are watching and willing to participate. But they must be invited to do more than negotiate—they must be invited to witness.
Yet world leaders must also be confronted with the truth: a push for a so‑called two‑state solution, without covenantal repentance and without economic viability, may lead not to peace but to an epic global catastrophe. As I warned in my Vision of the Apocalypse scroll, fragile treaties built on shifting sands can collapse into greater wars. Palestine, devastated and dependent, cannot yet stand as an economically viable nation without massive intervention, as I outlined in A Vision for Peace: Uplifting All God’s Children Through Shared Prosperity and Divine Purpose .
I do applaud President Macron’s sincere efforts to organize Spain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the UAE, alongside European and North American partners, to help in the rebuilding of Palestine. But the rebuilding of Gaza under God’s covenant is more than a materialistic pursuit. It must be sanctified as a work of justice, reconciliation, and divine love—lest reconstruction become another hollow project of empire rather than a covenantal witness of peace.
As I wrote in my Witness Statement, humanity must move away from a global economy built upon the evolutionary model of survival of the fittest and toward a covenantal model rooted in God’s promise to make the descendants of Abraham—both Isaac and Ishmael—into a great nation.
On Face the Nation, Senator Marco Rubio declared that the release of hostages is the “most emergent and immediate phase” of the peace plan, and that building a Palestinian government on a strong foundation of peace will not happen in 72 hours, 72 weeks, or even 72 months—but will take years. This language of a foundation of peace echoes what I have been proclaiming in my scrolls for years: that true reconciliation requires more than ceasefires or temporary deals. It requires infrastructure built on covenant, not expedience.
It is true that the building of empires within the material world is dust. As I wrote in Visions of the Apocalypse, our neighbors across the ocean in Beijing are known as a collective society tasked with building strong communities that uplift the common worker—yet the mechanical process of community building can marginalize the deeply personal journey of becoming more like the Most Loving, Merciful God. Without sanctification by God’s covenant, the mechanics of collectivism are for naught.
Both the great Chinese philosopher Confucius and Saint Paul taught us to live by a higher law, transcending the material nature of reality implicit in the mechanics of community building. The Islamic concept of Jihad, rightly understood, is a peaceful inward struggle to transcend the material world on the journey toward God.
The material wealth of the world must be harnessed to fulfill God’s Plan. As I have written in past articles, the failure of United Nations international courts of law to act decisively when Israel was attacked on October 7th—by organizing a coalition of Islamic clerics to arrange Hamas’s surrender under Islamic law, as prescribed by Jesus, revered in the Qur’an as a great Prophet—pressured Israel to engage in an aggressive military campaign for self-defense.
Since international courts failed to intervene early to bring Hamas to justice for crimes against humanity, by organizing a coalition of Islamic clerics from oil-rich OPEC countries—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt—to confront Hamas in underground tunnels and demand surrender under Islamic law, should we not now take this opportunity to organize an international council of Jewish, Islamic Arab, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and other faiths? Such an interfaith group could oversee the reconstruction of Gaza by sanctifying the IMEC and EcoPeace trade corridors under God’s covenant, while also advancing democratic reforms in God’s House of Israel whereby Palestinian rights are upheld under a fortified Israeli constitution.
This peace is only the beginning. As I wrote in my Vision of the Apocalypse scroll, enduring peace must be built on the Rock of God’s love, not on shifting sands of nationalism or temporary ceasefires. The covenant must be fortified with rights, justice, and reverence for every child of Abraham.
The Trump administration’s peace proposal has opened a door. Whether it becomes a fleeting agreement or a covenantal turning point depends on how leaders choose to frame it.
Let them not leave this as a negotiation. Let them sign a scroll. Let them bind themselves before God, the Merciful and Loving, and before the nations of the earth.
For in the days of the Zabur, Jewish and Arab brethren sang together. Let them sing again.
✍️ Authored as a ceremonial witness by Mark W. Gaffney