The agreement this week between Israel and Hamas is not a forever peace as President Trump has claimed nor the total victory that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised. As long as Israel pursues its annexationist policies in the West Bank the agreement cannot offer a credible path to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Too much blood has flowed and too many traumas have scarred an entire generation of Israelis and Palestinians for that to be possible, at least for the foreseeable future.

But for the first time in two years a U.S.-brokered accord offers a way out of the bloody parade of horrors Israelis and Palestinians have visited on one another since Oct. 7, 2023. With focused and determined leadership, it may be possible at least to imagine a better pathway for Israelis and Palestinians.

Under the agreement, Hamas is to release Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli forces are to pull back in Gaza and Israel is to allow in humanitarian aid. Those are among the few elements that negotiators for both sides actually agreed to in the 20-point plan proposed by the United States last month, a plan that aspires to a comprehensive end to the Israel-Hamas war.

With two combatants pledged to each other’s destruction, the pitfalls of an ambiguous plan, much of which remains to be negotiated, are all too obvious. Israel and Hamas both would have leverage over the pace at which provisions would be carried out and could block progress. The plan seems to offer few details about how both sides move from one phase to another; how compliance will be monitored and by whom; and what happens if one side fails to carry out its obligations.

The other flaw is that the plan, like so many U.S. initiatives before it, is tailor-made to address Israeli needs and requirements.

Of course, extremist ministers in Mr. Netanyahu’s government oppose some elements. The plan does away with any notion that Palestinians will be forced out of Gaza. It inveighs against any Israeli occupation or annexation. And it includes the release of Palestinians who have murdered Israelis.