The Trump storm continues as now the hard line Israeli right fears Trump may actually force them to accept a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Ben Caspit comments on AL Monitor:
There’s talk on the Israeli political right of a “done deal” between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. According to senior members of the HaBayit HaYehudi party, one of Netanyahu’s main coalition partners, the deal has been clinched. Netanyahu realized that he has no choice but to go along with the president’s grand quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace, or at least to play along and hope that the Palestinians are the ones who derail it. …
On May 27, some 15,000 left-wing Israelis held a rally at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to demand a resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and adoption of the two-state solution. Herzog was the keynote speaker, followed by a surprise message from Abbas to the demonstrators: “Our hand is extended in peace that is created between those who are brave.”A day earlier, Channel 2 television reported on a poll indicating that Netanyahu and the right had picked up significant political mileage from Trump’s visit to Israel last week. Nonetheless, the poll also included an amazing and significant finding according to which 47% of Israelis still support the two-state solution. After eight consecutive years of Netanyahu rule, the number of Israelis who favor this solution is significantly greater than the number who reject it (39%). The only possible interpretation of these findings is that Israelis would be willing to buy into such an arrangement if it were adopted by someone from the political right. Right now, that someone is Netanyahu. In the dilemma between clashing head-on with Trump or embarking on a diplomatic process with the Palestinians, Netanyahu is highly likely to opt for the latter.
It may turn out that a measure of unpredictability brought on by ignorance and amateurism will be the key to getting a treaty done between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and, if so, Trump will certainly wear the mantle of achievement with some pride – although I doubt this is an anticipated victory, much less entirely palatable to the more conservative and far-fringe portions of his backers, particularly those of the End-Times category.
It’s more along the lines of a plague-ridden family member. You can’t shut him out or shoot him, so you do whatever you have to in order to give him shelter. And Netanyahu’s political survival may depend on doing precisely that. But this will be a fascinating high wire act for him, between the oblivion of signing a treaty and the pressure from Trump to do so. Because how far could Trump go?
He could try to remove all foreign aid to Israel.
