As Monday night brought news of another devastating episode in Israel’s U.S.-backed offensive in Gaza — a strike on a tent camp sheltering desperate Palestinians — key players in Middle East policy in Washington and beyond were sipping cocktails at the Waldorf Astoria, toasting the end of a secretive conference about the region’s future.

The evening marked the conclusion of the inaugural Middle East-America Dialogue summit — a first-of-its-kind event that some participants say almost totally ignored the Palestinian perspective despite the community’s central relevance to developments in the region.

One attendee noted that only three Arab voices were featured on the conference’s stage: Those of the ambassadors to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Morocco. There were no Palestinians.

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