A reflection on Trump's tour and Arab Summit

Observer

22-05-2025

Last week two parallel scenes were seen in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East. On one side, US President Donald Trump toured three Gulf states, emerging with massive investment, industrial, and defence agreements reportedly worth trillions of dollars - described by some as 'historic.' On the other, an Arab Summit was held in Baghdad to reaffirm long-standing positions on the Palestinian cause, though it failed to move beyond rhetorical declarations into any concrete response to the atrocities unfolding in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the massacre in Gaza continued unabated - on a scale that even Israel's traditional backers in the West struggled to defend. Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened, famine is deepening, and medical aid is practically non-existent. Despite this humanitarian catastrophe, Gaza found no mention in Trump's transactional itinerary -neither in the deals nor on the diplomatic margins. There wasn't even a symbolic statement of concern. This silence alone illustrates where the Palestinian cause stands, even in the very forums most closely tied to the region's future.
The prioritisation of deals over diplomacy is hardly novel in American foreign policy, but under Trump it has taken on an overt bluntness. His current approach fuses politics and profit with unapologetic clarity. His Gulf tour resulted in sweeping contracts covering everything from energy to artificial intelligence and missile systems - casting the US-Gulf relationship in unmistakably commercial terms, what could be called 'political capitalism.'
From a strategic viewpoint, this framework reproduces an old formula: security guarantees in exchange for capital and influence. But behind its polished facade lies a troubling imbalance. While Washington secures economic and technological leverage, regional actors appear increasingly bound to the dictates of an external security architecture - one that turns a blind eye to war crimes when convenient. In this context, even genocide in Gaza elicits no meaningful response.
The Arab Summit in Baghdad, meanwhile, was meant to embody Arab unity during a time of extreme urgency. Yet its final statement was little more than a repetition of familiar slogans - calling for international action, support for Palestinian rights, and mere condemnations. No concrete measures were offered. No diplomatic initiative was announced. No collective financial commitment was made. In effect, the summit failed to offer even the most basic response to the systematic destruction of Gaza - a catastrophe widely described by human rights groups as genocide.
This failure speaks not only of the emptiness of the summit's communique but to a deeper paralysis within the Arab political order. Chronic divisions, misaligned priorities, and weak collective resolve have reduced such gatherings to ceremonial displays rather than mechanisms of action. And while time is of the essence, and Gaza's crisis worsens by the hour, Arab diplomacy remains suspended in abstractions.
On the ground in Gaza, death continues at an unbearable pace. Bombardments do not cease. Starvation grows. Clean water and medicine have disappeared. Yet the Israeli campaign shows no defined political objective - only the cold efficiency of annihilation. Every aspect of Palestinian life has been rendered a 'security threat' - including infants buried beneath the rubble of maternity wards.
Perhaps most disturbing is the near-total absence of international deterrence. The global community is distracted. Human rights organisations lack real enforcement tools. The International Criminal Court stands paralysed by geopolitics and vetoes. Even the principles that underpinned modern democracy - dignity, liberty, and the sanctity of life - appear hollow when the victim is a Palestinian. The sight of fathers gathering the limbs of their children in plastic bags has become both a symbol of tragedy and a searing indictment of international hypocrisy.
Unless a serious reckoning takes place - one that asks what purpose these summits and multi-billion-dollar deals serve if they cannot acknowledge Gaza - the gap between Arab governments and their people will grow wider. How can states proclaim a commitment to justice while refusing to leverage their political and economic clout to halt a genocide? How can they speak of 'shared values' while children die of hunger under the ruins of their homes?
To abandon the Palestinian cause is not merely a moral failure - it is a strategic error. As the political vacuum grows, it will inevitably be filled with more radical voices and unpredictable consequences. Every deal inked without a moral clause deepens complicity. Every summit that fails to act feeds the impression that Arab diplomacy has become disconnected from both its people and its principles.
What last week's events have laid bare is a region reordering its priorities in ways that defy its own ethical charter. While billions are committed to building the industries of the future, Gaza's children are left to die unacknowledged.
If there is one truth to take from this moment, it is that genuine regional stability cannot be built upon the graves of its people. No prosperity worth having can be founded on rubble soaked in blood. (Translated by Badr al Dhafari and the original version of the article appeared in Arabic in Oman newspaper's print version on May 18)