How can we safeguard and implement the outcomes of the Sharm el-Sheikh International Summit, which was held last Monday evening under the chairmanship of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and US President Donald Trump and brought together the most important presidents, leaders, and representatives of countries from around the world and the region?

Will this unprecedented summit become the turning point that ends the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and establishes a stage leading to a ceasefire, settlement, or genuine peace? Or will it merely be a temporary de-escalation of the aggression, after which the killing and destruction will resume, not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but throughout the region?

The answer depends on a number of basic factors:

The most important thing is that the Palestinians can overcome their divisions and unite around one common goal, thus foiling the decades-long Israeli plan to perpetuate the division and separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip.

It is absolutely unreasonable for the Palestinians to demand that the world unite in support and assistance when they themselves are incapable of uniting. Hamas must realize that the interests of the people are far more important than its own presence in power. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority must realize that their management of the Palestinian issue has been a complete failure in recent years.

Palestinians must also realize that Israel is planning to engineer a civil war in Gaza to show the world that the problem is not the occupation, but the Palestinians themselves.

The second factor is the continued awakening of Arab coordination, which played a decisive role in convincing Trump that his country's supreme interests, as well as his own and his family's personal interests, are threatened if this blind bias toward Israel continues, at the expense not only of the Palestinians but also of the national security of Arab states.

Egypt exerted decisive efforts throughout the aggression, from October 7, 2023, until the signing of the war-ending document, along with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and some Arab countries.

We will achieve much if the level of coordination continues and strengthens, building on what we saw at the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit and, before that, at the meeting Trump held with the leaders of several Arab and Islamic countries at the end of last month.

The third factor is that Trump's call to end the war be sincere and genuine. This means not giving Benjamin Netanyahu and his government the opportunity to fabricate any excuses or pretexts to evade the agreement and resume aggression, or to place obstacles to its implementation, particularly the continued blockade of Gaza, or attempts to ignite internal conflicts and strife in Gaza.

Without Trump's pivotal role, Netanyahu will seek to undermine the agreement after securing the prisoners and eliminating the ongoing headaches of their families and their ongoing demonstrations and protests. He is aware that he made up his mind from the outset, sacrificing a large number of them in order to achieve what he believes will be long-term strategic achievements for Israel, ones that may never be possible again.

In addition to Arab coordination, it is important to maintain international pressure for calm and proper and fair implementation of the agreement. The Arabs have succeeded in garnering unprecedented international support for the Palestinian people and their right to an independent state, and have even ostracized and besieged Israel internationally.

Never before has such a number of world leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh as they did the day before yesterday, except for the occasional recurring summit of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Sharm el-Sheikh summit sent a clear message to Israel: it will pay a heavy price if it continues its aggression. Indeed, when Trump orders Israel to halt its aggression, it means the equation has changed dramatically, and Israel's madness is no longer permitted to continue its genocide of the Palestinian people.

Once again, in politics, nothing is guaranteed, especially with a moody personality like Trump, and a racist, colonialist, settler-colonial entity like Israel and its extremist government. Matters hinge on how we, as Arabs, manage our issues and optimally exploit the many cards at our disposal. We must believe that our strength lies in our unity, not our divisions, and that the supreme national and pan-Arab interests must transcend narrow personal interests and the pursuit of personal gain and glory.