Donald Trump trying to divert attention from his trial, garner support from American Jews and help a now indicted Israeli PM Netanyahu stay in office….
Trump ‘s plan involves trying to offer money for the Palestinians to get them on board….
One would doubt that Trump would succeed where the efforts of ALL of the modern day American Presidents have failed…
President Trump will release a long-awaited Middle East peace plan on Tuesday that is expected to include a proposal for new Israeli borders and provide for Israeli sovereignty over much of the Jordan Valley, a strategic area on the eastern frontier of the West Bank abutting Jordan.
Mr. Trump will be joined at the White House for the announcement by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister.
Palestinian leaders, who no longer speak to Trump officials, are likely to oppose each of those elements, even if they are combined with the economic rewards of $50 billion or more that the Trump administration says it can deliver.
That is why many analysts say the plan, developed under the supervision of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, is relevant mainly for its potential effect on Israel’s March 2 election, which is likely to decide the fate of the embattled Mr. Netanyahu, and as a distraction from the Senate’s impeachment trial of Mr. Trump.
“One can’t ignore the obvious domestic political context to everything that is going to happen in the next couple of days, both here in the United States and in Israel,” said Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “In my view, that drives what is about to happen as much as Middle East peace may drive it.”
Speaking alongside Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Trump said that his proposal, nearly three years in the making, constituted “the closest we’ve ever come” to an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians and that “we will ultimately have the support of the Palestinians,” a view few view regional experts share.
Mr. Netanyahu’s opponent in the election, Mr. Gantz, traveled separately from his rival to Washington to meet with Mr. Trump on Monday, and flew home after the meeting. Mr. Netanyahu remained in Washington and will appear alongside Mr. Trump at the White House on Tuesday for remarks unveiling the plan….
The view from an Israeli newspaper …..
The signals were clear: Trump not only supports Bibi, but he wants to advance the Netanyahu agenda – including, in a break with past U.S. presidents, moving away from pursuit of a two-state solution and even suggesting tacit approval of Netanyahu’s late-in-the-campaign announcement that if elected, he would proceed with annexing Palestinian territory.
That would all be bad enough in its own right, if Trump were simply motivated by an ideology he shared with Netanyahu and the Israeli right. But Trump has no ideology except himself. He is a Trumpian through and through. And that means what he seeks whenever he takes an action is something in return.
He has helped Bibi get re-elected and now he will expect Bibi to help him get re-elected. This is where the already bad can get much worse. Because Trump will want support and, ideally, victories that translate in his mind to value-added on the campaign trail.
First, as illustrated in a recent Trump speech before Jewish Republicans, Trump believes that Netanyahu is “their” prime minister. He thinks because he helped Bibi, Bibi will deliver the Jews for him. Never mind that close to 80 percent of American Jews do not support Trump. This will be an early expectation. It won’t, for reasons noted here, go well.
So then, Trump will seek “victories.” One of these is likely to be the long-promised, heretofore nonexistent Jared Kushner Peace Plan for the Middle East….
image….Susan Walsh/AP