Art of the deal?

How Arab states and 'juggernaut' Trump finally forced peace

- Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

It is a well known adage in politics that success has many parents, but failure is an orphan - except when Donald Trump is involved, in which case there is only one parent.

Nevertheless, many countries and individuals have a right to step forward to claim an authorial role in the end to the war in Gaza.

It is a sign of the collective nature of the effort of the past few months that so many can credibly claim a role, including the exasperating president of the United States, who are after many false starts was finally persuaded to focus, end the fantasy of driving tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland, and instead spell out to Benjamin Netanyahu the victories he could and could not have.

The turning point was a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN general assembly chaired by Trump, soon after his baroque speech to the gathering. Trump himself described the meeting as his most important at the UN. The encounter was organised by the UAE, and saw Trump set out his then 20-point plan for peace in front of a group of Arab and Muslim states that could form the backbone of any stabilisation force that would enter Gaza after a ceasefire.

By then, Trump, with the help of his son in law Jared Kushner and the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, had been convinced to change his mind on two critical issues. First, Palestinians should not be driven from Gaza, and Israel should not rule Gaza. That meant Trump dropping the displacement rhetoric he deployed earlier in the year, when he triggered widespread alarm by speaking of plans to develop a "Gaza riviera".