No. of Recommendations: 16
The US and Israel are considering dividing Gaza into separate zones controlled by the IDF and Hamas, with reconstruction measures only occurring in the Israeli-controlled areas as a way to ensure Hamas disarms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/articles/us-i...
The Arab powers are queasy about any arrangement that locks out the Palestinian Authority, but "Bibi" says any involvement of the PA, and any sort of Pal state, are non-starters. And the US has it's wagon hitched to Israel.You can't understand what's going on without at least a bit of understanding of internal Israeli politics. Netanyahu is on trial for serious felonies. If he is convicted he may go to prison for the rest of his life. That's why almost half the Knesset refuses to sit in a coalition with him, and why he was forced into a coalition with the most extremist elements in Israeli politics. He can't afford to have his government collapse because then he's going to prison, so he depends for his survival on the extremists. That's why he is stubbornly preventing any resolution of the conflict. The status quo is best for his survival. Any solution that permanently removes the prospect of continuing war and Israeli occupation of Gaza is a death sentence for Netanyahu's political career, followed by a prison sentence.
There is a fundamental conflict between Netanyahu's position and Trump's position - wanting lucrative personal deals with the kings and emirs of Arabia. So will Trump end up jetisoning Netanyahu in favor of his corrupt deals? Nobody knows what Trump will do. Trump has already forced an interim deal on Netanyahu, a hostage deal and cease fire which the Israeli public loves and Netanyahu hates. Netanyahu has caused Israel to be squeezed into the weakest political situation in all its years of independence. It has essentially lost its independence and is completely at Trump's mercy, and Trump is giving strong signals that he is fed up with Netanyahu. Will Trump cut the cord on Netanyahu, or will he a continue a Putin-style bromance with him? I don't think anybody knows. But the clock may be running out. With every day that goes by, Netanyahu's coalition may collapse, leading to new elections and a probable end of Netanyahu's career. The future of the Middle East depends on that choice.
