THE ART OF THE DEAL

The Gaza truce was driven by Donald Trump's forceful personality, commercial instincts and the skills of a transactional real estate businessman

- AJISH P. JOY

On September 8, a day before Israeli warplanes rained missiles on Doha targeting Hamas negotiators, a high-stakes meeting was underway at Steve Witkoff's Sunset Island mansion in Miami. Witkoff, President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, was joined by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Ron Dermer, one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest advisers. They were working on a ceasefire proposal for Gaza, which they intended to pass on to Qatari mediators later that week.

A few hours after the meeting ended, Israeli jets over the Red Sea attacked a residential compound in Doha, killing six people, including a Qatari citizen. The Americans didn't have a clue.

Trump was livid. He reportedly told advisers that Netanyahu was trying to “f**k him” He believed that the Israeli operation was not only reckless, but also a personal affront. Netanyahu had kept him in the dark about targeting an American ally with which Trump had cultivated both diplomatic and personal ties. Al Udeid Air Base, a critical American military installation, is located in Qatar, which has long played a key mediating role not only in Gaza but in several other conflicts Trump claimed to have resolved.

His frustration was compounded by the fact that he had visited Qatar in May, becoming the first sitting American president to do so, and had accepted a rare gift from the Qatari royal family: a luxury Boeing 747, now being modified to serve as Air Force One. Trump was also concerned about preserving the Abraham Accords, by which a handful of Arab states established diplomatic ties with Israel, which he considered a signature foreign policy achievement.