One wants to “eradicate” Hamas, the other a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip: Benjamin Netanyahu will be received by Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, a meeting that could prove decisive for the future of the Palestinian territory and will also address the issue of Iran.
In a highly unusual move, this will be the third meeting in six months in Washington between the Israeli Prime Minister and the U.S. President, who maintain a close relationship.
It comes two weeks after the United States joined Israel’s military offensive against Iran, with Washington bombing three nuclear sites and soon after securing an end to the war between the two enemy nations.
The resolution of this 12-day war has revived hopes for a halt to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, where humanitarian conditions are catastrophic for a population of over two million people.
Donald Trump, who said this week he would be “very tough” with Netanyahu, calls for a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, tired of a war that seems endless.
“I mostly want the people of Gaza to be safe. They’ve lived through hell,” he said Thursday when asked whether he still wanted the United States to take control of the Palestinian territory, as he had announced in February.
‘Grand bargain’
A new ceasefire proposal, negotiated following the visit to Washington by Israeli Minister Ron Dermer, has been submitted to the Palestinian Islamist movement by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Donald Trump has urged Hamas to accept this “final” cease-fire proposal after 21 months of devastating war in the Gaza Strip, triggered in retaliation for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israeli soil.
On Friday evening, Hamas said it was ready to “immediately engage” in negotiations, supported by its ally, Islamic Jihad.
According to a Palestinian source, the ceasefire would be tied to the release of half of the remaining living hostages held by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“I think we’re about to see a strategic meeting along the lines of a ‘grand bargain’ — the kind Trump likes,” independent geopolitical analyst Michael Horowitz told AFP.
According to him, “even Netanyahu is aware we’re reaching the limits of what can be done in Gaza, and that it’s time to plan an exit. Netanyahu likely wants a gradual one.”
The Israeli leader, under pressure within his coalition government, will likely try to buy time, while arguing that “a gradual exit from the war should go hand in hand with a normalization effort with regional partners like Saudi Arabia,” the expert explains.
‘Nothing to offer’ Iran
In 2020, the Abraham Accords — brokered by Donald Trump during his first term — led to normalized relations between several Arab countries, including Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
But many Arab states have so far refused to join the process, especially Saudi Arabia, as long as the war in Gaza continues and no clear path toward a Palestinian state exists — something the Israeli government categorically rejects.
On the Iranian nuclear issue, Donald Trump said last Monday he had “nothing to offer” Iran, with whom he is “not speaking.”
The U.S. president, emboldened by airstrikes on the night of June 21–22, which he claims “wiped out” Iran’s nuclear program, warned he would not hesitate to strike the country again if it sought to acquire nuclear weapons.
Relations between Netanyahu and Trump have not always been smooth.
During their previous meeting in April, Donald Trump stunned Netanyahu by announcing direct negotiations with Iran.
But “Bibi,” as Netanyahu is nicknamed, was the first foreign leader invited during Trump’s second term.
And their alliance against Iran appears to have cemented their reconciliation.
The U.S. president even called the Israeli leader “a Great Hero,” going as far as to call for the corruption charges against him in Israel to be dropped.
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