Shibley Telhami Shares Expert Insights on Gaza Peace Plan

Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, is a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher in the Department of Government and Politics who has studied and promoted expert dialogue on the Middle East, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular, for decades. He has also been tracking public opinion on the conflict in his role as the Director of the Critical Issues Poll.

Telhami wrote an article for Time concerning what he sees as challenges to achieving peace in Gaza in the days ahead. In it, he argues that while the immediate steps resulting from the deal are welcome and desperately needed, this is not a peace deal: it is a hostage release deal, an uncertain ceasefire - and a prayer.

Read Telhami's Time Article, "The Challenges of Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan

Additionally, on the heels of the ceasefire in Gaza, Telhami spoke to The New York Times about how Americans’ views of Israel have changed because of the conflict, saying: “We now have a paradigmatic Gaza generation like we had a Vietnam generation and a Pearl Harbor generation. There’s this growing sense among people that what they’re witnessing is genocide in real time, amplified by new media, which we didn’t have in Vietnam. It’s a new generation where Israel is seen as a villain. And I don’t think that’s likely to go away.”

Telhami also did a segment on NPR's Weekend Edition discussing the Gaza plan further, including the timing and implication of the deal.

Published on Tue, Oct 14, 2025 - 11:12AM