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Alsharq Tribune- Gina Issa
US President Donald Trump declared "peace in the Middle East" Monday after world leaders at a summit in Egypt signed a declaration as the guarantors of a Gaza deal aimed at ending two years of war.
"Together we have achieved what everybody said was impossible. At long last, we have peace in the Middle East," Trump said in a speech to fellow leaders. "This is the day that people across the region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping and prayed for," he added.
"They have done things over the last month that I think were really unthinkable. Nobody thought this could happen. With the historic agreement we've just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered."
"A new and beautiful day is rising," he said. "And now, the rebuilding begins." The United States, Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye signed a declaration on Monday as the guarantors of a Gaza deal aimed at ending two years of war.
"The document is going to spell out rules and regulations and lots of other things," Trump said before signing, repeating twice that "it's going to hold up".
World leaders gathered Monday in Egypt for a summit aimed at supporting the ceasefire reached in Gaza, ending the Israel-Hamas war and developing a long-term vision to rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory.
Addressing the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt was welcoming a "brave and peace-loving president" in Trump. He expressed his gratitude to "our partners the US, Türkiye and Qatar," hoping that the war on Gaza would be the final war in the Middle East.
"The security of peoples cannot be achieved through military force alone," he went on to say, stressing that "peace remains our strategic choice." "The Palestinian people have the right to determine their fate and to live in freedom in a state that exists side by side with Israel," Sisi declared.
"The rivals of today can become the partners of tomorrow," he said. "I tell the Israeli people, let this moment be the beginning of a just and lasting future." "Today’s agreement paves the way for a new Middle East," he added, revealing that Egypt will host a Gaza reconstruction summit.
Israel and Hamas came under pressure from the US, Arab countries and Türkiye to agree on the ceasefire’s first phase negotiated in Qatar through mediators. The truce began Friday.
But major questions remain over what happens next, raising the risk of a slide back into war. The gathering reflects the international will to follow through on the deal.
More than 20 world leaders attended the summit, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, French President Emmanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Israel and Hamas have no direct contacts and were not expected to attend. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not travel to the meeting because of a Jewish holiday, his office said.
Trump headed to Egypt after a stop in Israel. Israel has rejected any role in Gaza for the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday before the gathering.
The summit unfolded soon after Hamas released 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel started to free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, crucial steps under the ceasefire.
