As President-elect Donald Trump fills his cabinet with vocal supporters of Israeli control over the West Bank, tensions within the new administration’s policy agenda are emerging. Trump says he wants peace in the Middle East, but the potential annexation of the West Bank would prolong conflict in the region.
During his first term, Trump proudly brokered the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that resulted in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognizing Israel’s statehood and normalizing relations between the two Arab states and Israel. Sudan and Morocco later joined the Abraham Accords and began the process of normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel. While Trump made progress in promoting normalization with Israel, the administration’s decision to divert from U.S. policy and recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory was met with international condemnation.
After his electoral win, President-elect Donald Trump reportedly urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “wrap up” the war in Gaza before his inauguration in January. Still, this request is at odds with the goals of some of Trump’s cabinet picks and the ambitions of key Israeli decisionmakers.
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