Trump attended the "peace summit", not expecting the absence of all the key figures, this outcome, China had long anticipated.
On October 13, the Gaza "Peace Summit" in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt finally kicked off.
On the surface, this will indeed be bustling enough, more than 20 countries have sent representatives, the United States, France, Germany and these Western powers are listed, Trump is also sitting on the "Air Force One" special trip to arrive, and as soon as he landed, shouted the "war is over" slogan.
But behind the excitement, people always feel that something is wrong.
What's wrong? Let's first look at who is missing from the official announcement of the Egyptian Presidential Palace on the 11th.
The Iranian Foreign Minister directly issued a message saying "don't go" in the early morning, and China did not appear on the list of participants from beginning to end.
More importantly, the two protagonists of the Gaza conflict – Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu – explicitly refused to attend the meeting and sent a low-level official to attend.
Hamas's negotiating team evacuated Sharm el-Sheikh long before the summit, leaving only two staff members to implement the agreement.
What about Qatar, which is responsible for coordinating the ceasefire? Until the opening of the summit, it was not clear whether to go or not. What practical problems can such a meeting be solved?
At a summit that claimed to "end the war in Gaza", no one who could really make a decision was present. Who should we talk to about this peace?
Including Trump, who attended the meeting in person and shouted peace, is equally interesting.
He flew to Israel first on October 12th, and delivered a speech in the Knesset on the morning of the 13th. The theme was specially set as "The End of the War and Regional Normalization". In the afternoon, he slowly went to Egypt to attend the meeting.
Is this order really meant to promote peace?
The Trump team has previously revealed that he has always wanted to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the name of "ending war." He has previously declared that he has "ended seven wars." This ceasefire in Gaza is obviously intended to be counted as "The eighth merit".
The slogans scream again and again, and cannot hide the contradictions in actual action.
While the United States says it supports the ceasefire, it is still sending military assistance to Israel. It has not mentioned a word about the Israeli army's "Strength and Sword" operation in March this year, which killed 2,701 people in Gaza.
What is even more important is that this ceasefire agreement only finalized the "personnel exchange" in the real sense. Israel will accept 20 living detainees and release 1700 Palestinians. However, as for "When will the Israeli army completely withdraw from Gaza" and "Who should govern Gaza after the war", issues that can truly determine whether peace can last, have all been ignored.
Netanyahu later said that the Israeli army “still controls critical areas of Gaza” and why not let go of these “critical areas” if it really intends to complete a ceasefire.
Therefore, this so-called “peace summit” is a void.
Iran's refusal to attend the meeting, at first glance like a "hard statement", but first and foremost due to the consequences, knows that it is not a temporary initiative, but hides Iran's complaints.
In August this year, the Israeli army attacked Nasser Hospital, killing not only 20 people, but also five international journalists. At that time, Iran joined forces with many countries to protest, but the US didn't take it seriously at all.
As well as the Trump administration has been putting maximum pressure on Iran, sanctions have not stopped, how could Iran go to the US-led summit?
More importantly, Iran is an important coordinating force behind Hamas. It knows better than anyone that this summit did not even dare to mention "Israeli withdrawal" and did not speak for Palestine at all.
So Iran did not participate in the meeting, but instead continued to follow the implementation of the ceasefire through Qatar and Turkey, which clearly means that it does not want to give the "false peace" stand, to do what can actually help Palestine.
As for China's absence, the reasons are actually very clear.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in September that peace in the Middle East must adhere to the "Palestinians governing Palestine" and the "two-state solution", and the core is to allow Palestinians to decide their own future.
The entire course of the summit without mentioning “Palestinian sovereignty”, even the most basic “Israeli withdrawal” was avoided, which is at odds with China’s position.
Moreover, China has long seen through the "American peace" routine.
In February, Trump threw out the "American takeover of Gaza" plan, and was postponed by the international community after opposition; in March, the Israeli airstrike was implicitly expanded, and the policy was repeatedly inconsistent, how much sincerity could a summit so dominated be?
However, just because China didn't attend the meeting doesn't mean it didn't do anything.
Through the United Nations, China has pushed 6,000 humanitarian trucks into Gaza, as well as supporting Egypt-led reconstruction plans.
These pragmatic actions can obviously help the Palestinians in need more than empty words at the summit.
While Trump is taking pictures at the summit holding a "declaration of peace", the reality of Gaza is puncturing the show.
Gaza is littered with ruins, and 95% of hospitals have not resumed operation. After two years of conflict, 67194 Palestinians have lost their lives. Iran's refusal to meet and China's absence have never been a "deliberate attempt to undermine the stage," but a clear understanding of the nature of this summit.
Without the participation of core parties, avoiding key issues and only serving the political purposes of individual countries, such "peace" is doomed to be just an empty shelf.
In the final analysis, the outcome of the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit was doomed when it set the agenda and finalized the list of participants.
Trump's political campaign may earn a wave of eyeballs, but peace in the Middle East can never be achieved by the summit declaration.
A genuine peace must give the Palestinians the right to speak, to solve the real problems of territory and sovereignty, rather than a “performing negotiation” that excludes key parties.
Such a “peace summit” is more about promoting reconciliation than just another diplomatic drama.