The Twelve Days War ceasefire: A great opportunity for peace in the Middle East and beyond

US President Trump has just announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran has been agreed. This marks the end of what may be referred to as the Twelve Days War, a short but intense conflict that shook the region and sent shockwaves around the world. The ceasefire will be implemented over the next 12 to 24 hours, and while the final missiles may have already flown, the consequences (and the opportunities) are just beginning.

This war was not fought with guns or boots on the ground, but with airstrikes, drones, and long-range missiles. Yet, the urgency it awakened in people’s hearts is timeless: the need to step back from the brink, and to choose a different path. A better path.

This is more than a truce. This is a great opportunity for peace in the Middle East, and, if we choose to embrace it, for the world. This moment calls for courage not only from political leaders, but from ordinary people of faith, of reason, of culture. It calls us to remember that beyond political alliances or sectarian divides, we are part of something much older, and much deeper. This is a moment that echoes a theme I explored in my novel, The Finding – Itihad.

In the story, the protagonist Ken crosses borders, physical, intellectual, and spiritual, encountering signs of unity in unexpected places. At one point, he sees a painting of a religious ceremony in Bali, rich with the shared energy of multiple faiths. Later, in Zak’s office, he is struck by a second image: a depiction of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in meaningful, peaceful dialogue. These moments are not explained, only felt. They plant a seed.

That seed blossoms at the very end of the novel, as Ken enters a mosque in the old quarter of Dubai and experiences something that transcends language and creed:

“…The older man trudged toward a semicircular niche built in the finely tiled wall… adorned with dark blue and turquoise interlaced patterns resembling six-petal flowers. The six forces—powers of nature—around the central force, the Celestial Virgin mother of all religions, Ken thought for an instant… Ken looked up at the blue tiled vault and felt a deep sense of awe.”

What he uncovers beneath the carpet is a sacred geometric pattern, a visual echo of the unity suggested in both paintings. What was once art becomes revelation. A symbol of something buried, bruised, and hidden, but not erased.

That is what this ceasefire could represent. A moment to lift the carpet. To rediscover what we share. A moment not only to avoid another war, but to open a dialogue between governments, yes, but also between the everyday followers of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Between neighbors. The path ahead is not military. It is human. And the next 24 hours may be the beginning of something far more powerful than a treaty, a new conversation grounded in respect, humility, and the recognition that we have always knelt toward the same center.

Let us not miss it.