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Some 15 months after Hamas triggered the devastation of the Gaza Strip by attacking Israel, the future of the Palestinian population there and in the occupied West Bank may hinge on US President Donald Trump’s determination to oversee the normalisation of relations between the Jewish-majority state and the Arab world.
Analysts say that is a long shot, not least because Trump would have to exert extreme pressure on an unwilling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza, whereas the American president said on Monday he was “not confident” that the three-phase ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19 would be upheld by Israel and Hamas.
However, Trump told reporters at the same press conference he expected Israel and Saudi Arabia to establish formal diplomatic relations “soon”, if not by the end of this year.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff acknowledged the challenges of negotiating an end to the Israel-Gaza conflict during the envisioned second 42-day phase of the ceasefire. But he expressed optimism that the truce would bolster the chances of normalising Israel’s relations with Arab states like Qatar, which has played a key mediating role in the conflict.
He also shocked many observers by suggesting Washington could for the first time directly engage with Hamas as a step towards achieving Trump’s wider objective for the Middle East.
“I think you could get everybody on board in that region. I really do. I think there’s a new sense of leadership over there,” Witkoff said.