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THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND                   ISRAEL INSIGHT



                                                                                     David M. Weinberg

        Trump’s Mideast Innovations


                               Should Stick





               any of the outgoing Trump     press. These are all-American princi-  agreement that took at face value Ira-
               administration’s novel Mid-   ples; they must not be soft-pedaled.  nian denials of there being any nuclear
      Meast  policies  should  be            This might nudge Palestinians, inshal-  weapons program to worry about.
       adopted by the next administration,   lah, towards the replacement of their   Because Trump defiantly dumped
       even if Democratic leaders shrink from   rejectionist leaders with men and   Obama’s signature foreign policy
       crediting Trump for any breakthroughs.   women who seek peace and prosper-  “achievement,” incoming President
       There are three axes of Mideast policy   ity for their people in partnership with   Biden (who was Obama’s vice-presi-
       that must not be abandoned.           Israel. Younger Palestinians must know   dent) surely will seek to entice Iran into
       The first is the unleashing of a rewarding   that the Palestinian national movement   a renewed accord, and he will do so by
       regional dynamic whereby Arab states   will be marginalized in the Arab world   lifting some sanctions against Tehran.
                                             and in Western capitals unless they
                                                                                  This is probably the wrong way to go,
       are moving to open partnership with   come to the table with new leadership   instead of increasing sanctions against
       Israel on a wide range of issues. Already   willing to compromise.         Iran. Nevertheless, a new US adminis-
       this has led to three peace agreements                                     tration surely will understand that Iran
       (between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain   For American diplomats to start once   must be forced to relent on several key
       and Sudan). Additional Arab countries   again scurrying about the region with-  issues.
                                             out pressing such inevitable truths on
       should be encouraged to follow suit.  the Palestinians would be worse than   These are 1. A complete end to Iran’s
       Sustaining this  momentum  requires   mischievous; it would be disastrous. To   nuclear military program, including all
       active American diplomacy in support   be overly solicitous of the Palestinians, a   uranium enrichment and plutonium
       of Arab-Israel rapprochement, with    long-time mistake of professional peace   production, with no sunset. 2. A truly
       signals coming from the highest levels   processors, would be unhelpful in the   intrusive international inspections
       in Washington and concrete offers     extreme.                             regime. 3. An end to Iran’s ballistic mis-
       of US aid on the table (yes, including   Continuing to dial-down Palestinian   sile development program. 4. A retreat
       weapons).                             expectations would be much more      from the forward bases in Syria that Iran
       It also requires continuing stiff Amer-  constructive. No administration should   is building to challenge Israel. 5. Full ces-
       ican resolve in opposing Iran’s hege-  revert to stale and unworkable formu-  sation of Iranian financing of Hamas and
       monic designs in the region and resist-  las based on maximalist Palestinian   Hezbollah military capabilities.
       ing the temptation to over-prioritize the   demands and minimalist regard for   Short of this, a new deal with Iran will
       Palestinian issue – as detailed below.  Israeli security needs and national-his-  be perilous and unsustainable.
                                             toric claims. I am referring, of course,   One also would hope that any admin-
       The second axis of intelligent Mideast   to discredited formulas involving the
       policy over the past four years has been   uprooting of settlements, Israeli with-  istration will continue to back the “war
       treating Palestinians as responsible   drawals from most of Judea and Samaria,   between the wars” – Israel’s covert
       adults.                               and a division of Jerusalem.         strikes on Iranian sites in Syria and on
                                                                                  nuclear installations in Iran.
       This means expecting the Palestinian   The third and perhaps most important
       governments in Judea, Samaria and     plank of US policy is the attempt to   The principles described here are in
       Gaza to end their payments to terror-  truly halt Iran’s advance towards nuclear   America’s best interests as well as Isra-
                                                                                  el’s, and therefore they ought to survive
       ists, disarm terrorist militias, ending   weapons and its aggressive troublemak-  a presidential transition.
       attempts to brand Israel a war criminal   ing across the region. There should be
       in international courts, end the teach-  no more American charity for Iranian
       ing of genocidal anti-Semitism in their   lies, including Iran’s vague commitments   David M. Weinberg is vice president of
                                                                                  the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and
       schools and media, and respect human   under the JCPOA agreement negotiated   Security, jiss.org.il. His personal site is
       rights, religious freedoms, and a free   by President Obama and the P5+1; an   davidmweinberg.com.


                                                        Though war needs physical courage, peace needs moral courage,
                                                       the courage to break with the past and turn enemies into friends.
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