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Monday was an extraordinary day in the life of the Middle East: an end to the two-year-old Israeli war on Gaza and, in the words of US President Donald Trump, “the dawn of a new Middle East” and an end to “the long and painful nightmare.” The promise of a historic breakthrough to the region’s endemic conflicts was so surreal that there was an actual sense of optimism running through the entire area, something that has not been felt for years and maybe decades.

But let’s not kid ourselves. This was Trump’s day. Forget about the release of the remaining living hostages by Hamas or the release of fewer than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners by Israel — most of whom were never even charged. Forget about the fact that the guns went silent in Gaza and that aid was finally flowing into the beleaguered enclave. This was Trump’s moment in history, enveloped in hyperbole and long-winded speeches.

Yet it was equally crucial in so many ways, in particular the fact the US is now back in charge of how this conflict-ridden region will move forward. If anything, it reinstated one overused statement: without the US, peace can never be achieved in the Middle East.

The US was in control of the so-called peace process for decades, starting with the post-Gulf War Madrid Peace Conference, passing through the Oslo Accords, the second Camp David meetings, the roadmaps and the Obama declarations. Then the process collapsed. The US was out as a broker and mediator. The region was engulfed in chaos.

No peace in the Middle East can be achieved without giving the Palestinians the right of self-determination

Osama Al-Sharif

Oct. 7, 2023, was a game-changer in so many ways: for the Israelis, the Palestinians, the rest of the world and, finally, for the US. More than 67,000 Palestinian casualties later — the genocide, the starving children and the wanton destruction — Israel had reached a tipping point. The world had turned against it. Its leaders were wanted for war crimes. Every week, millions around the globe marched in support of Palestine. Public opinion in the US had shifted. Countries lined up to recognize a free and independent Palestine.

What President Joe Biden failed to see, Trump’s inner circle came to embrace. Benjamin Netanyahu had become a threat to Israel and to the US.

In his speech at the Knesset on Monday, Trump showered Netanyahu with praise, but in effect he had, by imposing the Gaza deal on him, put him in a political straitjacket. The war is over and there is no turning back. It is something that Netanyahu never expected to be enforced on him by Israel’s foremost ally. No amount of praise hurled at Netanyahu will save him from the process of accountability to the Israeli public that awaits him, and which will start as soon as the euphoria of the hostages’ return dissipates.

But what the Knesset and Sharm El-Sheikh speeches by Trump failed to mention was the elephant in the room: the Palestinian issue. It is now a fact that no peace in the Middle East can be achieved without giving the Palestinians the right of self-determination that enables them to have a state of their own under UN resolutions, basically ending the Israeli occupation.

Peace in the Middle East has been the declared objective of many US administrations. Despite Monday’s celebrations in both Israel and Egypt, the US president danced around the main obstacle to a final and lasting peace in the region: giving the Palestinians their own state.

Still, Trump’s peace overture and his commitment to ending the war in Gaza are no small feat. The world gathered in Sinai to support the end of the war. Although this was an acknowledgment of Trump as a peacemaker, hard work lies ahead.

The question is, how committed is Trump to bringing peace to the region? He could take the accolades from Monday’s historic event and walk away. Or, he has the capacity to get engaged in the delicate and cumbersome process of defusing the crux of the region’s most obtrusive conflicts: the Palestinian search for an end to Israeli occupation.

For now, Trump seems to be willing to take ownership of the banner of ‘peace in the Middle East’

Osama Al-Sharif

Trump never got into the details. The facts are that, under him, the US never recommitted to the two-state solution. Washington’s role could be limited to a process to end the war in Gaza, with all that entails, such as reconstruction, the body that will run the Strip and the future of Gaza in a few years. But then what happens in the West Bank? What about the Palestinian Authority and the future of the Oslo Accords?

It could all boil down to one thing: either Trump comes clean about Palestinian rights, which is what the rest of the world demands, or he could opt to bail out of the whole thing. For now, Trump seems to be willing to take ownership of the banner of “peace in the Middle East.” But that comes with a hefty price tag for the US, Israel and the Palestinians. So far, Trump has given the Palestinians nothing. Not even rhetorical gifts.

The Sharm El-Sheikh summit, a significant gathering of world leaders who seem to have a common stance on the way to resolve the Palestine question, failed to deliver a clear US policy for a peace that extends beyond the Israel-Palestine conflict. While Trump sent a goodwill message to Iran, asking it to join the Abraham Accords, he skimped on the details.

The fact of the matter is that, while the US is the only country that today has sway over Israel, Trump is cryptic on how to move forward beyond ending the Gaza war. That achievement is essential in so many ways. It now has the support of many countries. What comes next is more complex: the reconstruction, the replacement of Hamas by an international body, the role of the PA in the future of Gaza, and the need for guarantees that Israel will not attack Gaza again.

Although these issues are essential, they do little to settle the bigger conflict. What happens in the West Bank with the aggressive, illegal Jewish-only settlements and the attempts to destroy the PA as a step to de facto annexation?

Trump now owns the prospect of peace in the Middle East. Monday was his day more than anything else. Now he must answer to the tens of Arab, Muslim and Western leaders who came to Sharm El-Sheikh to laud his efforts and his bold declarations. How his team will move things forward is the big question.

• Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010