The war in Gaza may come to an end this week — thanks to pressure from President Donald Trump.
The president appears to have maneuvered the diplomatic pieces of a puzzle into place in a way that would compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a deal that falls short of Israeli goals for an agreement, but allows Israel to achieve concessions in other areas that it considers strategically important.
Last week, Trump met with Arab leaders at the United Nations and obtained their support for an regional deal that would replace Hamas with an Arab government in Gaza exchange for a promise to prevent Israel from annexing Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
At the same time, he may allow Israel to annex portions of that territory necessary for Israeli security, while stopping Israel short of taking complete control of Gaza.
The Israelis, who are pressing further into Gaza City at a steady, methodical pace while taking surprisingly few casualties, have signaled that they would be prepared to accept such a deal if all of the remaining 48 hostages are freed as well.
Members of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government may be upset that he would give up a chance to control Gaza and annex all of the West Bank, but he can tell them he had no choice.
Trump’s leverage over Netanyahu is apparent in the terms of the emerging deal. Contrary to claims by left- and right-wing antisemites, lately joined by Tucker Carlson, the Israeli leader does not control Trump, but rather defers to Trump on every issue on which they differ openly.
Those issues are few — thanks to the stark intransigence of Israel’s enemies, who play into Netanyahu’s hands by rejecting Trump’s diplomatic efforts.
Trump’s early efforts to negotiate a deal were thwarted by Hamas, and so he allowed Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) a free hand in Gaza. It was only once the last Hamas strongholds in Gaza City were at risk that Hamas began pleading for diplomacy.
Trump then corralled Arab leaders — a task made more difficult by Qatar’s harboring of Hamas leaders, which led to Israel’s attack in Doha last month.
It is easier for Israel to reject the terms of a deal proposed by Hamas and a couple of Arab mediators than to reject one that is supported by the entire Arab world, and that includes the prospect of long-term peace and normalization. Only Trump could assemble that kind of coalition for a deal, which creates pressure on Israel to accept.
Netanyahu will not get everything he wants, but he could bring rest to a war-weary Israeli public.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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