Trump calls for ‘new era of harmony’ in Middle East at Gaza peace summit
At a global summit in Egypt, US President Donald Trump urged Middle Eastern leaders to “put old feuds aside” and embrace a new era of peace following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, calling it a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reshape regional relations.
Sharm el-Sheikh: President Donald Trump called for a new era of harmony in the Middle East on Monday during a global summit on Gaza’s future, trying to advance broader peace in the region after visiting Israel to celebrate a US-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.
“We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us,” Trump said, and he urged leaders “to declare that our future will not be ruled by the fights of generations past.” The whirlwind trip, which included the summit in Egypt and a speech at the Knesset in Jerusalem earlier in the day, comes at a fragile moment of hope for ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
“Everybody said it’s not possible to do. And it’s going to happen. And it is happening before your very eyes,” Trump said alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Nearly three dozen countries, including some from Europe and the Middle East, were represented at the summit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited but declined, with his office saying it was too close to a Jewish holiday.
Trump, el-Sissi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signed a document outlining a broad vision that Trump said would lay the groundwork for Gaza’s future.
Despite unanswered questions about next steps in the Palestinian enclave, which has been devastated during the conflict, Trump is determined to seize an opportunity to chase an elusive regional harmony.
He expressed a similar sense of finality about the Israel-Hamas war in his speech at the Knesset, which welcomed him as a hero.
“You’ve won,” he told Israeli lawmakers. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.” Trump promised to help rebuild Gaza, and he urged Palestinians to “turn forever from the path of terror and violence.”
“After tremendous pain and death and hardship,” he said, “now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.” Trump even made a gesture to Iran, where he bombed three nuclear sites during the country’s brief war with Israel earlier this year, by saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”r players.
