Trump, Netanyahu to meet amid pressure to end Gaza war
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to hold talks with his most important supporter US President Donald Trump, who has hinted at a diplomatic breakthrough in a bid to end the war in Gaza.
But Monday’s meeting in Washington comes at a tenuous moment. Israel is increasingly isolated, losing support from many countries that were long its steadfast allies.
At home, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears more fragile than ever. And the White House is showing signs of impatience.
The question now is whether Trump, who has offered steadfast backing to Netanyahu throughout the war, will change his tone and turn up the pressure on Israel to wind down the conflict.
In a post on social media, the Republican president said: “We have a real chance for GREATNESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER. WE WILL GET IT DONE!!!”
Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet in the Oval Office, and a joint press conference is expected later on Monday (Tuesday AEST).
The uncertainty surrounding the meeting casts it as “one of the most critical” in the relationship between the two leaders, said professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israeli relations at Bar-Ilan and Reichman universities.
“Netanyahu might have to choose between Trump and his coalition members,” a number of whom want the war to continue, Gilboa said.
A move by Netanyahu to end the war would leave him on shaky political ground at home a year before elections, he said.
Netanyahu, in an interview on Fox News said it is possible to have amnesty for Hamas leaders under terms of the agreement.
“The details of this have to be worked out. But in previous statements, I said that if leaders, if Hamas leaders, for example, are escorted out of the country, yeah, if they finish the war, release all the hostages. We let them out,” he said.
When international leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York last week, the US unveiled a 21-point Middle East peace plan to end the nearly two-year-long war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.
That plan calls for the return of all hostages, living and dead, no further Israeli attacks on Qatar and a new dialogue between Israel and Palestinians for “peaceful coexistence,” a White House official said.
Israel angered Qataris by launching an air strike against Hamas targets in their capital Doha on September 9.
A Hamas representative said over the weekend the group had not seen the US plan.
An Egyptian security official told the EFE news agency on Sunday that Trump’s proposal included a transitional government in the Gaza Strip without Hamas and the release of all hostages held by the group.
According to the report, the proposal offers Hamas leaders immunity from Israeli assassination inside or outside the Gaza Strip, conditional amnesty for members in the enclave and arrangements for those who wish to leave.
The plan, the source said, envisions an interim administration of Palestinian technocrats under an international commission led by the United States with Arab and European partners pending reforms to the Palestinian National Authority.
It also foresees a temporary international force under US and Arab command to ensure security and train a local Palestinian police force.
with EFE
Reuters
