According to five current and the former US and Israeli officials, the Biden administration has floated the idea of a White House meeting between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Behind the scenes: Over the last four months, US officials have raised the possibility with Israeli officials several times, as well as with Palestinians, Egyptians, and Jordanians. While Israel did not outright reject it, it did make several reservations.
- The low-key discussions about a possible meeting marked the White House’s most active involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since the fighting in Gaza last May.
- However, the likelihood of such a meeting diminished significantly on Wednesday, when Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government lost its parliamentary majority.
- With more right-wing lawmakers on the verge of defecting, Bennett — a conservative who opposes the two-state solution — will have little room for maneuver on the Palestinian issue.
The White House proposed holding the meeting at the level of national security advisers rather than heads of state, and focusing on security and economic cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with support from the United States, Egypt, and Jordan.
- According to one Israeli official and one former US official, the US raised the issue with Israel for the first time last December.
- According to the two Israeli officials, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office presented several reservations to the White House, including Bennett’s position that he will not hold anything resembling political negotiations with the Palestinians.
- When the White House brought up the issue again in February, Bennett chose not to give a definitive answer, instead of waiting to see if the idea gained traction.
The big picture: Israel’s broad unity government, which includes members from both the left and right, has decided not to engage in any peace initiatives with the Palestinians due to internal divisions on the subject.
- Simultaneously, Bennett’s government has abandoned Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy of rejecting all dialogue.
- Defense Minister Benny Gantz has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas several times, and Israel has attempted to strengthen the Palestinian Authority.
- In addition, the government has taken unprecedented steps to improve the economy in the West Bank and Gaza, such as issuing 20,000 work permits to Gazans.
Between the lines: The potential meeting would allow the White House to demonstrate international and regional support for such confidence-building measures.
- It could provide Abbas with a diplomatic victory and a much-needed signal that there is a political horizon for the Palestinian people, while also allowing Bennett to claim that it is not the start of political negotiations because it would be held between security officials and Egypt and Jordan.
- Israeli politics appear to be the biggest impediment to making it happen, with US and Israeli officials saying talks about a possible meeting have cooled in recent weeks.
“We have ongoing discussions with all of our Middle East partners about increasing regional integration to address shared challenges,” they say. These discussions have been entirely positive “According to a senior Biden administration official.
“We don’t comment on our dialogue with the US government,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said.”