Will Netanyahu take the deal that Trump has for him?
Israel and the Palestinians: How will the U.S. help in achieving the second stage of the resummation of the war?
The analyst for the Heritage Foundation said that the president will find it hard to meet the Saudi demand.
“As much as we might want a deal with Saudi Arabia, you know, Israel is going to, particularly after Oct. 7, remain very, very mindful of its internal security. “It has to”, says Coates. The deal that appeared to be imminent in the 2020-21 time frame may take a bit longer now.
President Trump will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, the first foreign leader he will meet since taking office, on Tuesday. Mr. Trump has stated three times in two weeks that Palestinians could be relocated to Egypt and Jordan.
On Saturday, friends and family cheered when an American held by Hamas was freed. But many at the gathering at Siegel’s extended relatives’ home in a kibbutz in central Israel expressed nervousness about the war resuming before all the hostages were freed. Rabbi Steve Burnstein believes U.S. pressure can make a difference.
He said that they were praying that the Americans would make sure the Israelis could reach the second stage of the deal.
Thousands of Tel Aviv residents were at one of the weekly rallies celebrating the return of three Israeli hostages and demanding that the government work to bring back all the remaining hostages still held by Hamas.
The First Meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Middle East with a White House Permanent Security Advisor, Goliath Mossavi, and U.S.-Israeli Relations
At the rally, Shelly, who only gave her first name to speak frankly about U.S.-Israeli politics without repercussion, said she believes only “Trump can push Netanyahu to seal another deal.”
“I feel like Netanyahu didn’t want a deal before. She said that he is doing it because Trump said so. “And I hope Trump’s gonna tell him, we’re bringing everyone. Every single hostage home.”
Another central question to resolve: whether Israel will launch a military strike on a weakened Iran, shorn after a year of intense fighting against its proxies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House on Tuesday. The world leader is the first to meet President Trump since he took office.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, played a key role in persuading Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire’s first phase, and Trump wants to see the deal continue until all hostages are freed and the war is over, in order to focus on a Saudi-Israeli peace deal.
“If the war continues he won’t go to election,” Talshir says. “Israel does not have a public investigation of what happened on Oct. 7. And Netanyahu remains in power.”
According to Talshir, the prime minister might be interested in returning to war given Netanyahu’s interest in retaining his coalition and staying in office.
Despite Israel pounding Gaza for over a year, the recent hostage releases have seen dozens of masked Hamas fighters parade Israelis on makeshift stages before freeing them.
Israel’s finance minister wants the war to continue until Hamas is defeated, and as long as they hold Israeli hostages, Israel does not endorse an alternative leader.
The Israeli leader’s allies, however, have threatened to bring down the government if Israel goes down that path — and does not resume the war in Gaza and eliminate Hamas rule there.
“The Tuesday meeting is actually critical to Netanyahu’s ability to survive as the leader of Israel and to make sure that his coalition stays intact,” says Gayil Talshir, professor of politics at Hebrew University. “I think Netanyahu wants exactly what Trump offers him, but I think his own coalition has quite a different vision.”
If the two leaders take this idea seriously in their meeting, and, worse, if the idea comes to fruition, it will almost certainly boost hostility to Israel in the region and kick any prospects of U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Saudi normalization — a goal Mr. Trump enthusiastically seeks to pursue — deep into the long grass. The Saudi leadership recently joined many others in designating Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide and has become more forceful in conditioning normalizing ties on the creation of a Palestinian state. Aside from being morally reprehensible, a large-scale population transfer of Palestinians would very likely close the door on a three-way U.S.-Israel-Saudi deal for the foreseeable future.
It is difficult to exaggerate the traumatic resonance of displacement in Palestinian memory. The history helps explain the Palestinian determination to remain in the newly devastated territory and the widespread outcry to this relocation proposal.