The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu produced little beyond reinforcing Israel’s definition of the second phase of the Gaza Strip agreement, in a manner that analysts describe as a reversal of the entire US plan.
Despite reporting by the news website Axios that Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accepted moving to the second phase of the Gaza agreement despite disagreements over its implementation mechanism, Trump’s statements were entirely at odds with the second phase as stipulated in the agreement.
The US president stated at a press conference that several countries had joined the agreement after the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas pledged to hand over its weapons. He added that these countries, which he did not name, would destroy the movement if it failed to comply with what had been agreed upon.
A Reversal of the Agreement
Trump also asserted that Hamas has an extremely short time frame to surrender its weapons or face a heavy price, a position described by Professor of International Conflict Studies Dr Ibrahim Fraihat as a complete American reversal of the agreement.
Accordingly, the outcomes of this meeting are far below zero, because Netanyahu succeeded in pulling Trump into his own camp and persuading him to adopt his personal definition of the second phase, Fraihat said during the program What Is Behind the News.
Trump ignored discussion of forming an international force to maintain stability and Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip, instead making the disarmament of Hamas the foundation of the second phase, which appears to have entered a state of uncertainty, according to Fraihat.
With the US president speaking of an international force taking on the task of disarming the resistance, it is evident that Netanyahu succeeded in convincing him to assign an alternative force to carry out this mission on Israel’s behalf. Fraihat noted that Trump did not address the humanitarian situation or the reconstruction of the Strip in any form.
There will be no way out of this stalled trajectory unless regional mediators involved in the agreement succeed in persuading Trump of a new formula that balances the weapons issue with humanitarian concerns and reconstruction. This task will not be achieved soon, in Fraihat’s assessment.
The evidence for this, he said, is that Israel has begun implementing the second phase according to its own vision by cancelling the operations of 20 relief organisations in the Strip, indicating that all efforts will be directed toward disarmament without addressing any other issue.
Former US national security adviser Mark Pfeifle did not differ from Fraihat’s assessment, stating that the meeting failed to answer the critical questions requiring clear responses, particularly those related to the mechanism of disarmament, reconstruction, the formation of the international force, and the peace council.
Even the three points said to have been agreed upon by Trump and Netanyahu out of five disputed issues were not clarified, rendering the outcomes of the meeting disappointing, according to Pfeifle.
It will not be possible to speak of transitioning to the second phase of the agreement, Pfeifle said, unless matters related to disarmament, reconstruction, the stabilization force and its mandate and participants, as well as reconstruction and the entry of aid, are clearly defined.
Fraihat concluded that Netanyahu obtained everything he wanted in Lebanon and Iran, to which Trump openly granted him the right to launch a new military strike should Tehran attempt to revive its nuclear project.
If there is one file in which Netanyahu did not achieve what he sought, it is the Syrian file. Fraihat said that Trump did not offer concessions there out of consideration for his relations with Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Disagreement Over the West Bank
The meeting’s outcomes regarding the occupied West Bank did not differ from those related to Gaza. Trump confirmed reaching an understanding with Netanyahu concerning settler violence there, which appears to be another victory for the Israeli prime minister, according to Fraihat. He noted that annexation, which Washington officially rejects, is proceeding around the clock.
Axios had quoted two sources saying that Trump and his senior advisers asked Netanyahu to change his policy in the West Bank and avoid provocative steps that hinder progress on the Gaza agreement, obstruct the expansion of the Abraham Accords, and prevent the repair of Israeli-European relations.
The multiplicity of files dominating the meeting may have prevented reaching an understanding on the West Bank, according to Pfeifle, who said that Trump is a political leader and will ultimately announce everything that has been agreed upon.
Israeli affairs expert Dr Muhannad Mustafa attributed the disagreement over the West Bank to Trump’s view of it as part of a broader regional project, while Netanyahu sees it as a primary reason for the survival of his government.
Trump, Mustafa said, wants to calm the situation in the West Bank to expand the Abraham Accords before the end of his term and to end Israel’s international isolation, not to establish an independent Palestinian state or grant Palestinians the right to self-determination.
Most importantly, Mustafa added, Trump appears to be becoming convinced that there can be no transition to the second phase in Gaza without cooperation with the Palestinian Authority. As a result, he wants to grant it authorities in the West Bank to expand his regional project.
In contrast, Netanyahu cannot halt the settlement process carried out by terrorist settler militias in full view of the government, for which settlement represents a political and ideological project, according to Mustafa.
