The US administration's latest diplomatic push on Gaza, led by Jared Kushner's meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, appears to have yielded no major breakthrough.
Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said Netanyahu will "give the appearance of getting along" with Kushner but "won't really go along with the plan" for Gaza. Bishara said Netanyahu's announcement of two committees to discuss the plan is a tactic to "bury the issue", noting that "when you want to bury an issue, make a committee for it." He said Netanyahu is "looking down the barrel" at a possible election loss in October, while Trump is also facing electoral pressures, so both leaders will "keep up the appearance" of negotiations without making "serious progress." Bishara said Israel has maintained "freedom of action" in Gaza and continues to occupy about half of the Strip. He also questioned how Hamas could be disarmed without Palestinian Authority involvement or an international force to verify the process, concluding: "It's very hard to be optimistic."
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