The White House is not the only one wanting to make a difference: Palestinians, Israelis and the Palestinians in Israel after the Gaza War

Victoria Coates, an analyst at The Heritage Foundation and a deputy national security adviser to Trump, said that it would be difficult for the president to satisfy the Saudi demand.

Netanyahu faces another Gordian knot: He and Trump have their sights set on establishing Saudi-Israeli relations, but Riyadh in return demands a pathway to a Palestinian state. That’s a prospect Netanyahu’s allies and most of the Israeli parliament oppose even more fervently after the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the Gaza war. They think that a Palestinian state is a security threat to Israel and that there is an unfair reward to the Palestinians after the attack.

President Donald Trump is set to meet Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday, the first foreign leader he will meet since taking office. In the past two weeks, Mr. Trump has made statements regarding the relocation of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.

On Saturday, family and friends cheered as American Israeli hostage Keith Siegel was freed by Hamas. Many of the people at the gathering expressed concern that the war was about to resume before the hostages were freed. Rabbi Steve Burnstein believes U.S. pressure can make a difference.

“We just hope and pray that the Americans do everything that they can to ensure that the Israeli government has the strength and the courage to make sure that we reach the second stage of the deal,” he said to NPR.

At one of the weekly rallies in Tel Aviv, a few thousand people showed up to show their support, demanding the government work toward getting the remaining Hamas hostages released.

What Trump can do for Israel, and why Israel will go to war? Shelly’s testimony at Trump’s White House conference on Oct. 7

At the rally, Shelly, who only gave her first name to speak frankly about U.S.-Israeli politics without repercussion, said she believes only “Trump can push Netanyahu to seal another deal.”

“I feel like Netanyahu didn’t want a deal before. She said that he’s doing it because Trump said so. “And I hope Trump’s gonna tell him, we’re bringing everyone. Every single hostage is home.

Another central question to resolve: whether Israel will launch a military strike on a weakened Iran, shorn after a year of intense fighting against its proxies.

Netanyahu’s White House visit will be rife with symbolism. After the inauguration of President Trump he was the first world leader to meet him.

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, played a key role in persuading Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire’s first phase, and Trump wants to see the deal continue until all hostages are freed and the war is over, in order to focus on a Saudi-Israeli peace deal.

Talshir says Israel does not go to election if the war continues. There was no public investigation into what occurred on Oct. 7. And Netanyahu is still in control.

Talshir, who’s writing a forthcoming book about the Netanyahu era of Israel, believes that given Netanyahu’s interest in retaining his coalition and staying in office, the prime minister might have an interest in returning to war.

Despite Israel pounding Gaza for over a year, the recent hostage releases have seen dozens of masked Hamas fighters parade Israelis on makeshift stages.

The main challenge Netanyahu faces is from Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, who wants the war to continue till Hamas is destroyed — a task Israeli defense analysts believe is unrealistic, so long as Hamas continues to hold Israeli hostages and Israel does not endorse a viable alternative leadership for Gaza.

The Israel leader’s allies promised to bring down the government if Israel went down that path and didn’t resume the war in Gaza.

The Tuesday meeting is crucial to Netanyahu’s survival as the leader of Israel and to ensure his coalition remains intact,” says Talshir. I think Netanyahu would like exactly what Trump has to offer, but his coalition has a different idea of what he wants.

Mr. Trump might think the storm gave him leverage after putting the idea out there. If he drops it, he may think Arab leaders can give him something in return. The idea could potentially be a good one for Prime Minister Netanyahu. It holds strong appeal to the right-wing allies that his coalition government depends on and for whom continuing the Nakba — the expulsion and flight of Palestinians around Israel’s creation in 1948 — seems to be an ideological goal. These potential benefits will neither last long nor get them very far.

Palestinian memory is hard to exaggerate the traumatic resonance of displacement. This history explains the Palestinian determination to remain in the territory and the widespread backlash to the relocation proposal.