Trump and Netanyahu to satisfy in Florida : NPR

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump is scheduled to satisfy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, as Washington appears to be like to create recent momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that could possibly be in peril of stalling out earlier than an advanced second section.

Trump may use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago property to attempt to leverage his sturdy relationship with Netanyahu and search for methods to hurry up the peace course of, particularly as Israel’s chief has been accused of not pushing his facet to maneuver quick sufficient.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump has championed has largely held, however progress has slowed not too long ago. Either side accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the many U.S., Israel and Arab international locations concerning the path ahead.

The truce’s first section started in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the preliminary Hamas-led assault on Israel that killed round 1,200 individuals. All however one of many 251 hostages taken then have been launched, alive or useless.

Now comes the subsequent, much more sophisticated half. Trump’s 20-point plan — which was authorized by the U.N. Safety Council — lays out an formidable imaginative and prescient for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.

The 2 leaders additionally may focus on non-Gaza matters, together with Iran, whose nuclear capabilities Trump continues to insist have been “fully and absolutely obliterated” following U.S. strikes on its nuclear websites in June.

There are lots of key sides of the ceasefire’s second section that Israel’s chief would not help or has even overtly opposed, stated Mona Yacoubian, director and senior adviser of the Center East Program on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research.

“That is going to be a very tall order, I feel, for President Trump to get Netanyahu to agree,” she stated.

“How he does that, what sort of strain he places on Netanyahu, I feel, goes to be vital to look at for,” stated Yacoubian, who additionally stated the 2 may exhibit “a broader conflict of approaches to the area.”

Subsequent section is advanced

If profitable, the second section would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza underneath worldwide supervision by a bunch chaired by Trump and generally known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would kind a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run every day affairs in Gaza, underneath Board of Peace supervision.

It additional requires normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, and a doable pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, together with rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and making a safety equipment known as the Worldwide Stabilization Drive.

The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction underneath a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been anticipated to be named by the tip of the yr and may even be revealed following Monday’s assembly, however the announcement could possibly be pushed into subsequent month.

Netanyahu was the primary overseas chief to satisfy Trump on the White Home in his second time period, however this might be their first in-person assembly since Trump went to Israel in October to mark the beginning of the ceasefire’s preliminary section. Netanyahu has been to Mar-a-Lago earlier than, together with in July 2024 when Trump was nonetheless looking for reelection.

A lot stays unsettled

Their newest assembly comes after U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son in regulation, Jared Kushner, not too long ago huddled in Florida with officers from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.

Two principal challenges have sophisticated shifting to the second section, in line with an official who was briefed on these conferences. Israeli officers have been taking a variety of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a listing given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its army strikes.

Trump’s plan additionally requires the Worldwide Stabilization Drive, proposed as a multinational physique, to keep up safety. But it surely, too, has but to be shaped. Whether or not particulars might be forthcoming after Monday’s assembly is unclear.

A Western diplomat stated there’s a “big gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the Worldwide Stabilization Drive’s mandate and that of different main international locations within the area, in addition to European governments.

All spoke on the situation of anonymity to supply particulars that have not been made public.

The U.S. and Israel need the drive to have a “commanding position” in safety duties, together with disarming Hamas and different militant teams. However international locations being courted to contribute troops concern that mandate will make it an “occupation drive,” the diplomat stated.

Hamas has stated it is able to focus on “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons, however insists it has a proper to armed resistance so long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official stated a possible plan is perhaps to supply money incentives in change for weapons, echoing a “buy-back” program Witkoff has beforehand floated.

Questions on Gaza reconstruction

Israeli bombardment and floor operations have remodeled neighborhoods in a number of Gaza cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and lumps of particles stretching in all instructions.

Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are urgent for a negotiated deal on disarming Hamas, and on a further Israeli withdrawal from Gaza earlier than shifting to subsequent components of the plan. These embrace deployment of the worldwide safety drive and reconstruction, three Arab officers advised The Related Press.

That seems to run in opposition to concepts floated by U.S. officers to shortly begin constructing short-term housing for Palestinians in elements of southern Gaza nonetheless managed by Israeli troops. Three officers stated the United Arab Emirates has agreed to fund reconstruction in Gaza, together with new communities, though they stated discussions are ongoing and plans stay unsettled.

A proposed map created by the U.S. and obtained by the AP exhibits an space labelled “UAE Non permanent Emirates housing advanced” inside an Israeli-controlled space of Gaza. The map exhibits a “U.S. deliberate neighborhood space” surrounding the UAE space.

An Arab official stated he was conscious of the map, however stated it was a suggestion from the U.S. and Israel that was put to the Emiratis and different international locations.

The UAE didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark about whether or not it has agreed to the plans or to fund the communities. It isn’t identified if the cash could be contingent on gestures from Israel and Hamas, corresponding to a dedication to Palestinian statehood or disarmament.