However Jerusalem and the West Bank remain thorny issues. Reports suggest that Trump is pressuring Israel to accept Arab post-war control over the Gaza Strip, and a Palestinian state in the West Bank (albeit subject to conditions, such as reform of the Palestinian Authority).
Israel is unlikely to agree to the latter. The overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that, since 7th October 2023, a Palestinian state in any shape or form represents an existential threat to the Jewish State of Israel. Moreover, there seems to be a growing sense that the only solution to the problems in the West bank is for Israel to assert full sovereignty. Since June 1967, Israel has asserted full sovereignty over Jerusalem, but not over Judea and Samaria; rather, it has treated them as occupied, while asserting that sovereignty over this territory is ”in abeyance”. Yesterday, all Ministers and Knesset members of Netanyahu’s Likud Party signed a statement demanding that Israel apply its sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria.
“We, ministers and Knesset members, call for the immediate application of Israeli sovereignty and law to Judea and Samaria,” stated the letter, which posits that establishing Israeli rule over those areas is a natural extension of Netanyahu’s success against Iran and its proxies. “The massacre of Oct. 7 proved that … the establishment of a Palestinian state in the rest of the territory is an existential danger to Israel. It’s time for sovereignty,” it read.
Trump also announced this week that Israel has agreed to the terms of a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas. It is expected that Qatar and Egypt will present this proposal to Hamas. It is hard to imagine that – if, as is reported, Israel has agreed to its terms - the proposal will be acceptable to Hamas, which remains committed to ensuring its survival and thus refuses to accept any deal that allows Israel to continue the war until Hamas is eradicated.
So, all-in-all, Trump and Netanyahu will discuss many complex and interrelated issues when they meet next week in the White House – issues that will have major implications for peace and stability in the region going forward.
Let us pray this week for the restoration of peace and stability in the land. Pray for Prime Minster Netanyahu and President Trump as they meet in the coming days. Pray for Israel’s enemies. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the coming of the Prince of Peace.
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