At the White House Tuesday, Netanyahu praised Trump’s plan for being detailed, saying previous attempts lacked the “right balance between Israeli security and Palestinians aspirations.” The Israeli leader said of Trump, “You have charted a brilliant future for Israelis and Palestinians toward a lasting peace.”
Timing of the Middle East Peace Plan Is Questioned
In the Middle East, “the stakes are high, and the chances of success are low,” notes BBC editor Jeremy Bowen, adding that “failed attempts at peace can be dangerous.” He’s among the reporters calling out the timing of this plan’s release. Both Trump and Netanyahu face tough electoral contests this year, and both men are currently embroiled in legal troubles. Trump’s impeachment trial continues in the Senate, and Netanyahu faces criminal charges of corruption, bribery, and breach of trust.
The rollout of Trump’s long-awaited Middle East plan is “a blatant political stunt,” says Jeremy Ben-Ami, head of J Street, a pro-Israel group. “This is not the day, if you are a serious policymaker, to resolve the world’s most difficult conflict. The fact that they chose this day tells you everything you need to know.”
After Tuesday’s unveiling, Ben-Ami tweeted: “The term #PeaceSham doesn’t begin to capture the cynicism underlying what went down today. I hope people who heard ‘two states’ or peace will take the time to understand the reality beneath the hallucination.”
Trump acknowledges that bringing peace to the Middle East is a challenge. “When I was back in the business world, when a deal was tough, people would jokingly refer to it as ‘this is tougher than Israel and the Palestinians getting together,’” he said. “So we’ll see what happens. We have something that makes a lot of sense for everybody.”
In 2017, Trump said solving the region’s long-standing conflict “is something that I think is frankly, maybe, not as difficult as people have thought over the years.”
