The fate of Palestine and the Gaza Strip hangs in the balance. US President Donald Trump arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh for a peace summit
US President Donald Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi and Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan signed a peace plan for the Gaza Strip on Monday during a ceremony in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The second phase of talks on the Gaza peace plan has already begun, said US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi. Trump also talked about the possibility of lifting sanctions against Iran.
While greeting the Egyptian president in Sharm el-Sheikh on the sidelines of the resort's peace summit, Trump was asked when talks on the second phase of his peace plan would begin.
– Well, they've already started. From my point of view, they have already started (…) The cleanup can now start… if you look at Gaza, there is a lot to clean up,” Trump said.
The American president came to Egypt to sign his peace plan for the Gaza Strip with other leaders from 35 countries. The first phase included a ceasefire, a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops and an exchange of prisoners, which has already taken place.
– It took 3,000 years to get to this point. Can you believe it? And it will continue. This will continue, Trump said when signing the document. Although it is not entirely clear what is in the signed text, it was supposed to be a peace plan for the Gaza Strip.
– We will sign a document that will contain many rules, regulations and other issues. It will be very complete, Trump said.
Next to him, the presidents of Egypt and Turkey signed the document. (PAP)
osk/mms/
The plan creates a political horizon for the recognition of two-state status
The peace plan signed by President Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey will create a political horizon for implementing a two-state solution in the Middle East, said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
As the Egyptian leader said during the signing ceremony of Trump's 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip, it is intended to create “the necessary political horizon for the implementation of the two-state solution.”
– This is the only way to fulfill the legitimate ambitions of both the Palestinian and Israeli people to end the conflict and live in security.
El-Sisi also announced that he was awarding Trump Egypt's highest state honor, the Order of the Nile, for his peace efforts.
Trump praises and thanks Egypt
Trump assured Sisi of his full support for Egypt, talked about his key role in talks with Hamas and said that he would like him to also sit on the Peace Council. Sisi also praised Trump, emphasizing that only he could bring an end to the war. However, he stressed that he wanted to ensure that the ceasefire remains in force.
American negotiators – Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner – assured that they are constantly involved in the implementation of the agreement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that it creates an opportunity for a new opening for the entire region, and Monday is the most important day for the Middle East in 50 years.
– Only 50 years? – Trump joked.
The American president also said that he also intends to enter into peace talks with Iran, noting that Tehran also wants this.
– These sanctions are very strict, but at some point they will say: we want to lift the sanctions. There will be peace at last. I think Iran will be fine, he said.
A plan without the most important signature. Israel blocked?
Türkiye, supported in particular by Iraq, exerted pressure to prevent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from attending the summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh on the future of the Gaza Strip, a Turkish diplomat admitted in an interview with AFP on Monday.
“On the initiative of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and thanks to Turkish diplomatic efforts, with the support of other leaders, Netanyahu will not attend the meeting in Egypt,” a source told AFP.
Iraq refused to attend the summit in Egypt because the Israeli prime minister was to be present. Initially, according to the authorities in Cairo, Netanyahu was to take part in the talks, but on Monday his office announced that the prime minister could not take part in them because they were held shortly after the celebration of Simchat Torah (joy of the Torah).
According to the Gregorian calendar, at dusk on October 13, Simchat Torah begins – the holiday ending the Sukkot period. It is both the end and the beginning of the annual Torah reading cycle.
President Erdogan's plane headed to Egypt extended its flight while awaiting information about the presence of Sheikh Netanyahu in Sharm el-Sheikh Netanyahu. As the presidential plane prepared to land, Erdogan reportedly ordered the pilot to stay in the air and circle over the Red Sea, Daily Sabah reported.
The Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported that news of Netanyahu's planned presence at the summit was met with strong opposition from leaders, several of whom warned they would boycott the meeting if Netanyahu attended.
The daily also reported that President Erdogan had made it clear that he would return to Ankara if Netanyahu arrived for the talks.
Washington Post: Trump Can Take Credit for a Generational Achievement
President Trump can confidently take credit for a generational achievement in the Middle East, the Washington Post wrote on Monday in an editorial comment on the agreement to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip. However, the daily warns that this is the first step of a tedious process.
“In a region where the United States has achieved few diplomatic successes in recent decades, the president can honestly take credit for a generational achievement,” wrote the editorial board of the Washington daily. “At the same time, it represents the first stage of what will be an arduous process. Whether this separation will lead to lasting peace depends on Trump's continued personal commitment and America's role as the main guarantor of the peace agreement,” she added.
The authors stated that Trump's plan to head the international Peace Council supervising the interim authorities in the Gaza Strip, as well as the participation of US troops in monitoring the ceasefire, involves high risks.
“When President Ronald Reagan sent marines to supervise the evacuation of Palestinian fighters from Beirut in 1983, 241 American soldiers died in a suicide attack. Representatives of the Trump administration assure Americans that no ground forces will appear in the Gaza Strip,” the newspaper reminds.
The authors also mention other obstacles: doubts and risks related to the actual disarmament of Hamas and ensuring that the group has no role in governing the Gaza Strip. The daily also believes that the prospects for establishing a Palestinian state are more distant than ever.
“A more realistic goal is to expand the Abraham Accords. Trump, represented by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, brokered the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in 2020. One of the reasons Hamas carried out the October 7 attacks was to prevent additional countries from joining. Muslims, including Saudi Arabia,” says the daily.
osk/mal/ osk/mms/ jbw/mms/
