- Trump's Team Faces Reality in the Middle East - Herb Keinon
After President Donald Trump's Mideast point man, Jared Kushner, Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt, and Ambassador to Israel David Friedman met Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House issued a statement saying: "The United States officials and Israeli leadership underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking." It is a sign that after five months of meetings with everyone, the Trump Mideast team has hit the shoals of reality. The statement was a clear indication that the Trump team now realizes things are going to take a lot longer than first expected.
The U.S. is probing the sides to see what they are - and are not - willing to give, and then trying to see if there are ways to bridge the gaps. And it is doing this all very much behind closed doors, without megaphone diplomacy and without public threats of laying down an American blueprint. (Jerusalem Post)
- Palestinian Policy Will Not Change - Bassam Tawil
U.S. envoys who met this week in Ramallah with PA officials to discuss reviving the peace process discovered what previous U.S. Middle East envoys learned in the past two decades - that the PA has not, cannot, and will not change. During their meeting in Ramallah with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S. emissaries were told that the Palestinians will not accept anything less than an independent state along the pre-1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas also made it clear that he has no intention to make concessions on the "right of return" for Palestinian "refugees" - which would flood Israel with millions of Palestinian "refugees" and turn it into another Palestinian state. Abbas reiterated his demand that Israel release all Palestinian prisoners, including convicted murderers with Jewish blood on their hands.
Abbas' position reflects accurately the policy of the PA leadership over the past two decades - a policy that has been regularly relayed to all previous U.S. administrations and successive Israeli governments. Moreover, Abbas knows that any move toward peace with Israel would end his career, and very possibly his life. Abbas does not wish to go down in Palestinian history as the leader who "sold out to the Jews." Abbas also cannot halt anti-Israel incitement, he cannot stop payments to convicted murderers and their families, and he cannot accept Jewish sovereignty over the Western Wall in Jerusalem. (Gatestone Institute)
Israel's Pivot to Asia - Michal Wojnarowicz
Israel sees developing cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region as one of its top priorities. Asia accounted for 26% of Israeli imports and 22% of its exports in 2016, compared with the EU's share of 43% of Israeli imports and 29% of its exports in the same period. Trade with Asia rose to $33 billion from $23 billion in 2010.
Israel is negotiating free-trade agreements with China, India, South Korea and Vietnam. It also is trying to meet Asia's increasing demand for advanced technology in sectors such as agriculture, water management and high tech.
In 2016, bilateral trade with China amounted to $16 billion, with intense cooperation developing in advanced technologies. Israel has joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which supports China's "Belt and Road" initiative. China is involved in major infrastructure projects in Israel, including the construction of the Eilat-Ashdod railway and the expansion of the ports of Haifa and Ashdod. (Polish Institute of International Affairs)
Israel sees developing cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region as one of its top priorities. Asia accounted for 26% of Israeli imports and 22% of its exports in 2016, compared with the EU's share of 43% of Israeli imports and 29% of its exports in the same period. Trade with Asia rose to $33 billion from $23 billion in 2010.
Israel is negotiating free-trade agreements with China, India, South Korea and Vietnam. It also is trying to meet Asia's increasing demand for advanced technology in sectors such as agriculture, water management and high tech.
In 2016, bilateral trade with China amounted to $16 billion, with intense cooperation developing in advanced technologies. Israel has joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which supports China's "Belt and Road" initiative. China is involved in major infrastructure projects in Israel, including the construction of the Eilat-Ashdod railway and the expansion of the ports of Haifa and Ashdod. (Polish Institute of International Affairs)
