President Trump’s peace deal was presented on Truth Social with the resounding words from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers”. And certainly, Donald Trump deserved his own plaudits: it was an historic achievement. Without his unique, brash style, setting clear and unambiguous goals, communicating directly on his own social media platform, taking a firm hand with Benjamin Netanyahu, and putting pragmatism first, this deal might not have come about. Peace was his aim, and he achieved it. The art of the deal worked. Yet one aspect of the settlement was striking: the normal peacemakers, elected politicians, professional diplomats, established rulers, were replaced by the president’s dealmakers. Think Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son in law, and Steve Witkoff, his special envoy. Both are pragmatists, property estate developers, who unapologetically see business opportunities in the settlement. Is that a problem? If the outcome of the dealmaking is an agreement which Arab leaders feel they own, why not? Mr Kushner played an important role in the negotiations, and his business dealings with Middle Eastern governments may have helped, as well as his longstanding family association with Benjamin Netanyahu. His private equity firm, Affinity Partners, has significant investment from government wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and plainly that experience paid off. But Mr Trump is elected; Messrs Witkoff and Kushner are not. There are dangers in bypassing the norms of diplomacy. Mr Kushner is unpaid and does not have to conform to the rules and disclosure requirements of a diplomat, elected representative or government employee. His business dealings in the Middle East mean there are obvious potential conflicts of interest between his private enrichment and his public goals, but his ambiguous status means he need not disclose what they are or their extent. Furthermore, there are larger challenges ahead than the cessation of violence and hostage and prisoner exchanges, and the establishment of a stabilisation force, however crucial these things are. Rebuilding Gaza from the rubble created by Israeli forces is not the only end. There must be a political settlement, the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to achieve that there will need to be the withdrawal of hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers from the occupied territories, where they have settled since the Six Day War in 1967, and they are represented within the Israeli cabinet. That will not be easy, if it is even attempted. Hamas must be disarmed, but there also needs to be stable governance for Gaza and the Palestinian territories. A ceasefire is a great achievement, but it is not the same as a lasting settlement. The art of the deal has its limits....