Trump must stop Netanyahu from burning down any chance of Israeli-Palestinian peace - opinion

An opinion piece published by the Jerusalem Post argues that U.S. President Donald Trump must intervene to prevent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from destroying any possibility of Israeli-Palestinian peace before the upcoming Israeli elections. The author, Gershon Baskin, suggests that Jared Kushner's visit to Israel, focused on Gaza, should have carried a broader message from Trump.

Baskin contends that the immediate American objective should not be to resolve all outstanding issues or complete a regional peace architecture, but rather to stop Netanyahu and his government from creating new facts on the ground, igniting new fronts, and destroying regional diplomacy. This is particularly urgent given the sensitive moment of the Trump administration's Gaza initiative, which includes transferring governance to a Palestinian technocratic body, Israeli withdrawal, and reconstruction.

Netanyahu has reportedly resisted key elements of the American plan, especially the sequencing of Israeli withdrawal and Hamas disarmament. However, the article emphasizes that Gaza is only one part of the problem, with the West Bank deteriorating rapidly due to unprecedented settlement expansion and increased settler violence. The author cites an incident in Kusra where Israeli troops clashed with settlers attempting to dismantle an outpost, noting that settlers resisted the army, which then yielded, leaving Palestinian residents feeling terrorized.

The core issue, according to Baskin, is the settler movement, backed by powerful members of Netanyahu's government, pursuing a political project to make Palestinian statehood impossible by creating irreversible facts on the ground. The author suggests that members of Netanyahu's government are actively seeking provocations that could lead to Palestinian violence, providing a pretext for a large-scale Israeli military operation in the West Bank, which Netanyahu might believe he needs before the elections.

This situation is framed not just as a Palestinian problem but as an American strategic problem. Trump's administration aims for regional peace, deeper Israeli integration into the Arab world, Saudi-Israeli normalization, Arab investment in Gaza's reconstruction, and a Palestinian governing alternative to Hamas. The article concludes that the settler movement and its political allies are working against these broader U.S. strategic goals.