NYT: Trump Won’t Get More than General Commitment from Netanyahu for Post-67 Building

The Trump administration will have to forgo any specific, quantified promise regarding Israeli plans to build on land conquered in the 1967 war that are claimed by the Palestinians for statehood. The analysis is offered by the New York Times which says its conclusions were gleaned from a Trump administration official who was “briefed on the talks” held during the past week between the two governments. During the American presidential campaign, hopes among Israeli political right-wingers soared as candidate Trump and his minions said things not normally spoken by foreign politicians, including expressing an understanding and even support for Israeli building on post-1967 land – statements that were an anathema to the Palestinians. But the rhetoric had disappeared by the time Donald Trump was inaugurated and when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stepped to the microphones for a joint White House news conference with the new president last month, Trump said, “I’d like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit.” That, plus the disappearance of the pledge to move the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and a recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, opened the Israelis to a new reality. Trump then dispatched his designated foreign negotiator to Israel for talks which continued all week in Washington. Apparently, Trump is not getting automatic obedience from Netanyahu on the sensitive issue of “settlement building” but the Israelis are being cautious in preventing the issue from driving a wedge between the governments as it did during the Obama administration. A stark reminder of Israel’s need to maintain excellent relations with President Trump came on Friday in the form of a report provided to the UN Security Council by the Secretary General’s special envoy to the Middle East. The first since the now-infamous resolution criticizing Israeli building that the US failed to veto, the report accused Israel of not only failing to adhere to the resolution but of increasing its building activities. The Trump campaign promise to veto all anti-Israel resolutions now looms large as virtually all other promises to the pro-Israel voter have failed to manifest.