Donald Trump with Arab leaders
US President Donald Trump appealed to stop the Gaza war immediately from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) platform in New York. After that, he also held an important meeting with the top leaders of Arab and Muslim countries to search for a real solution. This meeting has been held when the pressure on Washington to handle the Middle East diplomacy has increased.
The Israel-Hamas War has made the entire region unstable and the US needs to find a concrete way with its Arab partners. However, after the meeting, Trump left only shaking hands instead of talking to journalists directly. His silence raised many questions. However, his special envoy Steve Vitkoff smiled at the journalists and indicated that the discussion was positive.
What was the agenda of the meeting?
Leaders of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Türkiye, Indonesia and Pakistan attended the meeting. The center of conversation was permanent ceasefire in Gaza, safe release of all hostages and humanitarian aid. Trump clearly said before the meeting that this meeting is very important because this war has been pulled very long and it should end now.
He also added that immediate steps will have to be taken on the release of hostages and deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. On the other hand, Turkish President Rechpe Tayyip Erdoan called it a very fruitful conversation and said that a joint manifesto would soon be released. However, he did not disclose what will happen in it.
Trump’s opinion on recognizing Palestine?
What happened on Palestine in a meeting with Arab leaders, nothing can be said at the moment. But during his speech in UNGA, Trump had clearly said that recognizing Palestine is like rewarding Hamas. Trump had said that some people are trying to recognize Palestine unilaterally. But doing so will have to reward Hamas. He said that Hamas has repeatedly rejected peace efforts. Trump had said that we have to bring back the hostages. We all want 20 back. We do not want two and four.
Look at the road ahead
Although the concrete results of the meeting did not come out, it is clear that the seriousness of stopping the Gaza war between Arab countries has increased, the release of hostages and providing humanitarian aid are currently being described as priority. In the coming days, it will be important to see whether this meeting is really able to bring any concrete results towards holding the Gaza war or just becomes a diplomatic formality.
