Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with US President, Donald Trump.
According to a White House itinerary, the much-anticipated meeting between Trump and Netanyahu will begin at 11:00am Washington DC time (15:00 GMT) today.
After bilateral talks, Trump will host Netanyahu for a lunch in the White House’s Cabinet Room before the two leaders give a joint press conference at 1:15pm (17:15 GMT), according to the schedule.
The meeting comes as Trump hopes to finalise a plan to end the Gaza war. The 21-point “day after” war plan was first presented to Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings in New York last week.
According to numerous Israeli and Western reports, the plan says that Hamas must release all 48 remaining captives in Gaza, about 20 of whom are believed to be alive, within two days.
Hamas fighters will allegedly be allowed to leave Gaza or offered amnesty if they renounce resistance. Significant humanitarian aid will be allowed into the famine-stricken enclave, some Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli military jails, and Israeli forces will gradually withdraw.
The plan underscores that it does not want to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza, and that they will have a right of return if they choose to leave after two years of genocidal war has left most of the enclave in ruins.
The plan put forward by Trump has been drafted in collaboration with Israel and an organisation run by Tony Blair, who was the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, based on false claims of weapons of mass destruction.
It considers appointing him as the head of a newly established entity called the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA), which would administer Gaza after Hamas is ousted for up to several years.
Nonetheless, the meeting, which comes days after Netanyahu’s defiant speech at the United Nations rejecting demands to end the war, comes at a tenuous moment.
Israel is increasingly isolated, losing support from many countries that were long its steadfast allies. At home, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears more fragile than ever and the White House is showing signs of impatience.
It remains to be seen whether Trump, who has offered steadfast backing to Netanyahu throughout the war, will change his tone and turn up the pressure on Israel to finally wind down the conflict.
Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of Israeli captives held in Gaza, wrote a letter to the US President in advance of his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister later today, urging him to secure a deal for their release.
“All the hostages should have been released right when you came into office, just as you boldly demanded – yet here we are still fighting for freedom. We pray that this deal [to stop the war in Gaza] comes to fruition and that this ordeal will soon be coming to an end.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum
The letter also criticised Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza, contrasting it with Trump’s claim that he wants to end fighting. “Your dual focus on ending the war and bringing all 48 hostages home stands in stark contrast to the expanded war that Israel is currently conducting,” they said.
Uncertainty Surrounds Meeting Between Trump And Netanyahu
Professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israeli relations at Bar-Ilan and Reichman universities, opined that the uncertainty surrounding the meeting casts it as “one of the most critical” in the yearslong relationship between the two leaders.
Gilboa noted that Netanyahu “might have to choose between Trump and his coalition members,” a number of whom want the war to continue. A move by Netanyahu to end the war would leave him on shaky political ground at home a year before elections.
Also, Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, agreed that Trump is likely to demand a permanent ceasefire, leaving Netanyahu with few options. Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to continue the offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
Ailam said that if Trump puts the pressure on, the Israeli leader would probably seek to include “red lines” in any deal, stating that Netanyahu might demand that Hamas be dismantled.
He added that Netanyahu might also set a condition that if the militant group resumes fighting or returns to power, the Israeli military would have the right to operate freely in Gaza.
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