The mere fact that the two most powerful leaders of the world (US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping) held a meeting was enough to inspire some optimism. As for what they agreed on, and the extent to which the agreements were reached in good faith, that all might perhaps become clearer after the visit of the third figure of global leadership, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met the Chinese president in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 19–20, 2026.
What stands out about the visits of Presidents Trump and Putin to the Chinese president, is that the former visited Beijing out of necessity, whereas the latter’s visits seek coordination and adjustments to the international map.
It is worth noting that President Putin had already met President Xi forty times before, perhaps the most significant being Putin’s visit to China several months earlier, on August 31, 2025, when signs of a US–Iran confrontation were becoming increasingly dangerous.
One could say that both the Chinese and Russian presidents share President Trump’s desire to prevent further complications and that President Trump, in light of his discussions and coordination with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, has begun to see that global calm demands stabilizing the Middle East. Such stability, in turn, requires a profound reassessment of the Palestinian issue, whose settlement remains stalled between hollow promises that had never been meant to be fulfilled and, on the other hand, a firm commitment to a solution embodied in the Saudi position.
This position has been consistently reaffirmed by the Saudi leadership, beginning with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and persistently upheld by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. They vehemently reiterate that regional stability can only be achieved through justice, by establishing a Palestinian state coexisting alongside Israel- an Israel led by men with different principles from those of the current cabinet, especially those “evil partners” in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Among them is “their Ben-Gvir,” who goes even further than Netanyahu himself, encouraging the torture of Palestinian political detainees, supporting settlers’ raids on Palestinian homes, the destruction of their fruitful trees and cultivated lands, persisting in aggressive wars, and ravaging olive groves and vineyards through uprooting, demolition, and confiscation.
Coincidentally, the ongoing violations and provocations witnessed in Palestinian towns and cities (including the raising of Israeli flags in front of mosques and Islamic and Christian holy sites) coincide with the seventy-ninth anniversary of the Nakba. Palestinians have nonetheless failed to close ranks, leading many to say that before political factions and organizations ask their Arab brethren and the nations of the world to deliver justice and restore their rights through the establishment of a Palestinian state. They must end their chronic disputes and divisions, presenting a united front to the Arab world and the international community, to confront this “minor Nakba” through unity, so that true justice may finally emerge and end the greater Nakba. God alone grants strength and assistance.
