VP Pence’s visit to Israel, announcements seen as victory for Israeli premier
U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to give the keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday, but before he does, he’ll meet on the sidelines Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
It will be the fourth meeting between the leaders since President Trump took office. The last face-to-face was during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City back in September.
The prospective meeting follows a three-day visit to Israel by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who announced that the Trump administration will advance plans to relocate the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the end of 2019. Pence also confirmed during a speech to Israel’s parliament that President Trump would no longer certify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal unless it is modified, effectively echoing Netanyahu’s oft-repeated mantra to “fix it or nix it.”
“The message is, look, if you don’t accept it, everything is really on the table. That if you don’t accept it and change it, then we [the Americans] will,” Professor Zaki Shalom, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies told The Media Line. “There is a big dilemma for the European states,” which to date have shown little appetite for amending the accord.
The Iranian nuclear deal, and what to do next, will likely be a main topic of discussion between the President Trump and Netanyahu who has, according to Shalom, become “sort of an informal spokesman for the [White House].”
“The American president has shown he is standing by his word,” Shalom added and, with elections scheduled in Israel for the end of 2019, that could be a “big boost for Netanyahu” if he survives various legal challenges.
Dr. Eran Lerman, Vice President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies agreed, predicting that “[Netanyahu] is certain to make his foreign policy achievements in this term in office the centerpiece of the Israeli elections.”
As regards the peace process in particular, Dr. Lerman explained to The Media Line that the Trump administration has attempted “to offer an alternative paradigm as to the future of the Israeli-Palestinian [negotiations]. If this actually takes hold, [Netanyahu] will be in a position to talk to the Israeli people and say ‘we won a big victory, a strategic victory.’ Right now it’s a potential victory.”
Some say the White House’s position has come at a cost. Palestinian leaders refused to meet with Vice President Pence during his visit to the region, seemingly holding firm on their boycott of Washington in the wake of Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
In this respect, Shalom said he thinks there will be a “deep freeze of the dialogue with the coming year.”
Vice President Pence reiterated Tuesday that the White House has been working to develop a “framework for peace” and that it depends now on when the Palestinians “are going to come back to the table.” He also tweeted: “I truly believe that in making the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, PEACE is now MORE POSSIBLE, not less possible.”
Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of Jordan said Wednesday in Davos that, “renewing the negotiations is dependent on good will expressed by both parties”. But as one Palestinian official recently told The Media Line, “we feel betrayed. [The Trump Administration] can no longer be an honest broker of peace.”