Donald Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidency to ensure that Israel recognises it has achieved \u201call that it can by force of arms\u201d, and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.<\/p>\n
In a speech to the Israeli Knesset, made hours after the last remaining Israeli hostages were released from Gaza, Trump hailed the \u201chistoric dawn of a new Middle East\u201d and an end to the \u201clong and painful nightmare\u201d of the Gaza war.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not only the end of war \u2013 this is the end of an age of terror and death,\u201d the US president said. \u201cIsrael, with our help, has won all that it can by force of arms. Now it\u2019s time to translate those victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
Repeatedly insisting that Israel\u2019s military victory was complete, Trump\u2019s remarks were intended as a reassurance to Arab states that he would neither allow Israel to reopen the conflict with Hamas<\/a> nor permit Hamas to re-establish itself inside Gaza.<\/p>\n Trump then flew to Egypt to take the message of optimism to a summit of more than 20 world leaders dedicated to endorsing his peace plan, the rebuilding of Gaza<\/a> and a limited form of Palestinian self-rule. The guarantors of the peace agreement \u2013 the US, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt \u2013 also signed a comprehensive document setting out their responsibilities in ensuring peace, and an eventual path to Palestinian self-rule.<\/p>\n The summit was jointly hosted by Trump and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. At the opening of the summit, Trump told reporters that phase two of his Gaza plan, concerning the reconstruction of the strip, was already under way. He told reporters: \u201cPhase two has already started. The phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other. You can start cleaning up. You look at Gaza, it\u2019s a lot of clean-up.\u201d<\/p>\n The US is already asking wealthy Arab states to commit large sums to Gaza, a place he described as \u201cdebris times 10\u201d. Estimates for the reconstruction costs have reached more than $30bn.<\/p>\n A confident Trump predicted: \u201cGaza will be demobilised, Hamas will be disarmed, and Israel\u2019s security will no longer be threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n The US president also sent out a thinly coded message that Israel had been losing public support due to its reliance on force. He said: \u201cThere was getting to be a period of time over the last few months when the world wanted peace and Israel wanted peace. If you had gone on for another three or four more years, keeping fighting, fighting, fighting, it was getting bad, it was getting heated. So the timing of this is brilliant. I said: \u2018Bibi [referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu], you will be remembered for this far more than if you kept the thing going, going \u2013 kill, kill, kill.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also indicated he was going to put pressure on Arab states to sign the Abraham accords \u201cquickly and without games\u201d. The accords require Arab states to recognise Israel. Iran, he insisted, was also ready for peace.<\/p>\n European diplomats are privately warning that the speed of the ceasefire means plans for an international stabilisation force and a Palestinian civil police force need to be accelerated if proposals for Hamas to be disarmed are to bear fruit. Hamas, which has governed Gaza alone since 2007, has said it is willing not to be part of the new technocratic government of Gaza, but has insisted it will only disarm on certain conditions to a Palestinian-led force.<\/p>\n Israel has said it will not withdraw the Israel Defense Forces further from its current positions inside Gaza so long as Gaza\u2019s network of tunnels and guns remain under the control of Hamas.<\/p>\n France, the US and the UK have said they are willing to act as backstops to the international force, but it is recognised that the force\u2019s credibility stems from troops coming from Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Turkey, two countries that attended the summit. France is also pressing for the force to be given a UN mandate, similar to that of the UN force in Lebanon.<\/p>\n A separate Palestinian National Authority civilian police force has also been trained, mainly in Egypt and Jordan, to enter Gaza, but French diplomatic sources said that, unless it is deployed rapidly, it risks finding itself in conflict with a resurgent Hamas. Neither Hamas nor Netanyahu attended the summit.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n