Diversionary tactic from US domestic woes

mention. Trump has long said he will forge a deal between Israelis and Palestinians, and rumours are that the “key principles” of his team’s agreement are emerging. Accounts vary. The Palestinians would get a state, though the 1967 lines would not be its borders. According to some, the territory they get would not be contiguous. That would amount to substantially less than the Palestinians demand and far more than Israel’s right flank intends to give them. If the administration is serious about such a deal, Trump needs to buy the allegiance of both sides. plans to proffer. If anyone can deliver the Israeli right, it is Netanyahu, likely the most skilled political manipulator the country has had as prime minister. With his political life possibly nearing its end and with little to show for his years in office, Netanyahu would like a deal like this to ensure his place in history.

How likely is this scenario? It’s hard to say. A careful plan in which Trump moves slowly and stays on script would hardly be characteristic of his modus operandi so far. But it’s not entirely out of the question.

Trump, not surprisingly, is taking heat from all corners, including Palestinians, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Christian leaders in Israel and even the liberal American Jewish community. Yet even if he was motivated primarily by his own selfish needs, Trump is right — he did the right thing.

For decades, the Western world has allowed fear of Palestinian terrorism (or Palestinians backing out of negotiations) to silence claims that everyone knows to be true. Such capitulation serves no one. It doesn’t serve the West, for it renders even the US impotent in the face of Palestinian threat. It doesn’t help Israel, which wants the world to acknowledge that its capital being near the seat of King David’s kingdom and the location of the two Temples symbolises with utter clarity that the Jews have returned home. And it doesn’t serve the Palestinians, who through the use of threat, have immobilised the West and put off the serious deliberations they will have to undertake if they are ever to get the state they want.

Whether the president has the focus, skill and interest in making this move the beginning of a positive and far-reaching process, though, remains to be seen. —Bloomberg

Daniel Gordis is senior vice-president and Koret distinguished fellow at Shalem College in Jerusalem

A careful plan in which Trump moves slowly and stays on script would hardly be characteristic of his modus operandi so far. But it’s not entirely out of the question