It was a sickening spectacle: Trump addressing the Israeli parliament and congratulating himself on "such a beautiful peace... after 3,000 years!".
As al Jazeera journalist Belen Fernandez put it - it was a "celebration of Israel's excellence in mass slaughter". Trump even joked that his pal "Bibi" had asked for weapons he'd never heard of, adding that "we make the best weapons in the world, and we've given a lot to Israel, ... and you used them well".
Yes indeed they did. Gaza is in utter ruins with 80% of its buildings demolished or damaged and while the named dead, mostly crushed or burnt to death, number over 67,000, there are estimates that hundreds of thousands may still be buried under the rubble. Of course, the other reason for this ceasefire is that Netanyahu is bankrupting Israel with the cost of his war, while soldiers have had enough and active service men and women are refusing call-up...
The media covering the special Knesset sitting couldn't avoid showing how two of its members, Ayman Odeh and Ofer Cassif of the Hadash Party, (a coalition of Israel's Communist Party and others), raised a placard reading "Recognise Falestine!", shouting against Israeli genocide in Gaza. Of course, they were quickly bundled out.
Sham at Sharm-el-Sheik
Almost as distasteful as the Knesset "celebration" was the Sharm-El-Sheikh "Summit for Peace" where Trump, Egypt's el Sisi, Turkiye's Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar - grandiosely signed big green-covered copies of Trump and Netanyahu''s 20-point plan.
A quote from Moshe Dayan, one of Israel's first military commanders back in 1948 could be recalled: "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies". And of course, the "enemy" - which Netanyahu has been trying to exterminate all this time, that is Hamas, was not included in this latest peace negotiation which produced this open-ended and vague "peace plan" and has not signed up to all of its points.
The Summit was over in minutes, in fact - another farcical show which ended with the selected attendees - princes, presidents and prime ministers, queueing up to shake Trump's hand - in the hope of a piece of the estimated £50bn contract-pie to rebuild Gaza.
Also there, was the discredited Palestinian National Authority leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, who Trump had only recently prevented from attending the UN General Assembly by denying him a visa! Trump clasped his hand with great aplomb - a picture of genuine insincerity!
The only thing to be said for this second part of the show was that on this occasion, Netanyahu was told not to come, thanks to "undisclosed objections". But Tony Blair was there, having been proposed for Trump's Gaza "Peace Board". Although Trump may have to backtrack on this, given the negative regional reaction to the inclusion of the "Butcher of Iraq"...
Trump the war-maker
Netanyahu may have been booed and Trump cast as a hero by hostage families in Tel Aviv. But in "deed", they're identical twins. As if Trump (and Biden before him) couldn't have called a halt to the death and destruction at any moment in the past 2 terrible years by refusing to supply Israel with weapons.
And while claiming the next Nobel Peace Prize for himself, Trump is currently conducting a war on US streets, imprisoning, torturing, and deporting America's foreign workers, and sending ICE agents and troops into American cities, while attacking the rest of the population by slashing jobs, education and health care!
What's more, this "peacemaker" is carrying out a low level {for now) "war" against Venezuela, blowing up boats and people in the Caribbean under the pretext of clamping down on drug smugglers...
Back in Palestine-Israel, the plan may already be unravelling. The hostage exchange is suffering inevitable hitches: since most of Gaza is flattened, Hamas militants are unable easily to unearth the dead bodies of hostages. This has given Trump and Netanyahu an excuse to claim they aren't sticking to the "agreement" even though no time line was stipulated. Trump now threatens to finish the job - and disarm Hamas if they don't disarm themselves... Yes, it's a built-in deal-breaker.
So no, regrettably, there is nothing to expect from this tragicomedy which Trump has initiated: nothing positive for the Palestinians - neither the survivors in Gaza nor those on the West Bank, surrounded by barbed wire, walls and violent Israeli settlers.
Whether the Palestinians know it or not, if they are to find a real and lasting peace, their future is tied to the future of all of us - the anti-capitalist and anti- imperialist working people and poor of this world. We may be oppressed and exploited - but together we have the strength to break our chains.