Response from Israel

Ambiguous seems to be the climate prevailing between the Netanyahu government and the new presidential environment of the White House. This conclusion emerges from the interview given this morning to the Israeli state radio by the outgoing Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, brother of the country’s President, Isaac Herzog.

In particular, Michael Herzog emphasized that the new Trump administration “is not going to give the green light to the Israelis to annex the West Bank”, as such a development would prevent the normalization of Israel’s bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, rumors persist that the State Department is looking to officially rename the West Bank “Judea and Samaria” – thereby adopting the Israeli administrative terminology that has been in place since the aftermath of the Six-Day War. Dated in 1967 and expresses the right-wing tendencies of the party map.

But on the other hand, as the outgoing Israeli ambassador pointed out, “both the Biden environment and the Trump environment agree to allow the Israelis to ‘intensify military pressure on Hamas’ in the event that the negotiations on the shaping the terms of the second stage of the cease-fire in Gaza. This highlight is of particular importance, since in one week from today, the ceasefire framework stipulates that Israel and Hamas will resume negotiations on the course of the second stage of the ceasefire, always with the mediation of Egypt and Qatar.

“Yes” to the presence of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza

At the same time, however, it is surprising that the newly appointed American special envoy for the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, is in favor of entrusting the security forces of the Palestinian Authority to re-operate the Rafah outpost (between Gaza and Egypt) under European supervision – as was the case until summer of 2007, before the Hamas organization took over the de facto governance of the Palestinian pouch. Steven Witkoff’s views, which are said to have been expressed recently in Cairo and indeed in the context of the staff body overseeing the progress of the ceasefire in Gaza, have caused embarrassment (if not discomfort) on the Israeli side.

Another key point that demonstrates that Israeli and American views are not yet aligned relates to the Lebanese front. The day after tomorrow, Sunday (26/1), is the last day of the 60-day temporary truce between Israel and Hezbollah, and according to its terms, the Israeli army must withdraw from South Lebanon. On the other hand, however, the situation on the ground is not completely consistent with the agreed upon.

The regular Lebanese army does not fully control South Lebanon, Hezbollah continues to maintain its presence in the region, the Israeli army carries out operations to locate and destroy weapons of the Shiite organization, while there is no shortage of armed conflicts between Israeli forces and its local nuclei pro-Iranian organization. After a long-hour cabinet meeting last night, the Netanyahu government today ordered the army not to withdraw its forces from the eastern part of South Lebanon next Sunday, in order to maintain its presence along the Lebanese border. -Southern Syria.

This decision is aimed at preventing any future reinforcement of Hezbollah’s arsenal from the – previously perforated – Lebanese-Syrian border. However, what is particularly impressive is that, while the Israelis were expecting an ‘informal approval’ or even tolerance on the part of Trump’s entourage – this did not happen. In other words, it seems that Washington does not consider it completely self-evident to support the persistent Israeli request to extend the duration of the truce for another 30 or 60 days – which will also entail the extension of the Israeli military presence in South Lebanon.

These interesting symptoms of “lack of coordination” with the United States are no doubt troubling Israeli decision-making centers, especially at a time when it has not yet been determined exactly when Benjamin Netanyahu will be invited to the White House to clarify Donald’s second term intentions. Trump.