As the US president’s visit nears, nobody in Israel knows what to expect. Donald Trump wants an Israeli-Palestinian deal. But the Israeli right has stopped rejoicing, and the public is skeptical, reports Miriam Dagan.
Trump and his administration did what they do best ahead of his trip to Israel on Monday and Tuesday: send contradictory signals. When news came that the president was planning a visit to the Western Wall, Jews’ holiest place of prayer, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked to join him.
It’s a stop not usually made by Western dignitaries as a matter of standard diplomatic procedure, because it is part of the Old City of Jerusalem that Israel annexed after the 1967 Six-Day War – a move not recognized by the international community.
Netanyahu’s suggestion ended with contention. When a senior US diplomat responded with, “It’s not your territory, it’s part of the West Bank,” Israelis were shocked. The White House later stated that it doesn’t share that view. Nevertheless, Trump plans to go to the site without Israeli officials.
tinerary details aside, Trump has disappointed the Israeli settler movement and the right by speaking out against construction in the West Bank, contrary to earlier promises and declarations. Now, in what’s seen as a dramatic breach of the Israeli intelligence community’s trust, he may have leaked sensitive information to Russian officials.
Read more: Where white nationalists and Zionists meet
Left-leaning media in Israel have been keen to report that the tables have been turned on Netanyahu, with headlines like “Netanyahu fears Trump’s cooking something big” in Haaretz. The paper quoted Tzipi Livni, a highly respected opposition politician and former chief negotiator with the Palestinians, after meeting with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt: “We have a huge opportunity. The president is talking about his determination to close a deal; that is, to end the conflict. We have a president who thinks big and addresses the hardcore.”
But the US president has not exactly turned from the hero of the Israeli right into the hope of the Israeli left.
Israeli diplomat and US-Israel relations expert Alon Pinkas told DW it is wrong to think Trump will be able to impose a solution.
“Trump may apply pressure, and the left may think Netanyahu won’t be able to resist him because he’s not Obama. But Netanyahu would just use that as a pretext for elections, saying that he doesn’t have support from his coalition.”
Little hope
According to Pinkas, Israelis are very skeptical of Trump, while average Israelis haven’t seen anything to make them change their minds on the conflict: “No one believes the Palestinians, and no one likes settlements. Israelis are disillusioned, tired of talking about these issues, and hoping the situation in the West Bank is going to go away like a headache.”
Indeed, Israelis seem to harbor little hope that Trump will change anything.
Read more: For pro-Israel Americans, Trump’s support may be less than welcome
“A deal is not going to happen; it would be a miracle,” said Shalom Rahabi, a middle-aged Jew of Yemenite descent. “You can’t know what’s going to happen,” added his friend Dani Abuker. “Trump changes his mind all the time.” But in Rahabi’s opinion, the Palestinians are too divided. “How can we make peace if they are not at peace with each other? I promise you, if [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas makes a deal with us, he will be murdered by his own people.”