The Promised Land

Could Trump’s Past Derail the “Ultimate Deal”?

The president is hoping to prove his reputation as a dealmaker—but a number of contradictory statements could trip him up.
Image may contain Audience Human Crowd Person Speech Sunglasses Accessories Accessory and Reuven Rivlin
By Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images.

As Air Force Once touched down in Jerusalem, expectations could not have been higher. On Monday, Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Israel on a maiden international tour; the first to fly to Israel direct from Saudi Arabia; and surely the first to boast, without any foreign policy experience whatsoever, that “as a deal maker, I’d like to do . . . the deal that can’t be made.”

Trump’s trip to Israel also could not be more fraught. Unlike on the first leg of his international tour, in Saudi Arabia, where King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s lavish embrace of the president and his coterie was almost obscene in its over-the-top opulence, in Israel Trump faces a minefield of his own making. Israeli officials were reportedly enraged when it was revealed that Trump had shared their intelligence on ISIS with Russian officials in the West Wing, endangering one of their key sources embedded in the terrorist group. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went out of his way not to mention the snafu, telling reporters that intelligence sharing between the two countries “has never been better,” the incident may have put a strain on the relationship. Trump’s trip to the Western Wall also ran into problems, when an unnamed Trump advisor reportedly told his Israeli counterparts that Netanyahu could not accompany Trump to the sacred site, because it was not in Israel—mirroring an earlier gaffe wherein Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Tel Aviv the “home of Judaism” (it is not). A reported $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, brokered by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was also said to have left a bitter taste in some Israelis mouths. Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers reportedly only turned up to greet Trump at Ben-Gurion International Airport after the prime minister ordered them to turn up.

In his brief remarks from the tarmac, Trump got quickly down to the business of laying the groundwork for a peace plan—or at least a statement of his commitment to a deal, in principle. “We have before us a rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace to this region, and its people, defeating terrorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity, and peace,” the president said after greeting his Israeli counterpart. “But we can only get there working together. There is no other way.”

There are countless obstacles to achieving a lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, which is why such a deal has eluded world leaders since Israel’s inception. And it doesn’t help that the latest U.S. president continues to add new obstacles to the peace process, leaving dozens of contradictory statements and positions in his wake. Throughout his campaign, Trump’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict wavered from being “neutral” in February 2016, to saying that it was “probably not possible” to be neutral in March of 2016. He seemed to decisively land on the side of a one-state solution when his campaign made an unprecedented promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing the disputed city as “the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state,” and appointed his personal bankruptcy attorney who has called for moving the embassy for years, as the ambassador to Israel.

Less than a month into his presidency, he offered a baffling solution. “I am looking at two-state, and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like,” he said, standing next to Netanyahu during his February visit to D.C. “I can live with either one. I thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two. But honestly, if Bibi, and if the Palestinians, if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I’m happy with the one they like the best.” He has gone back and forth on the matter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Then, last week—just days before his trip—the White House waffled again on the placement of the U.S. embassy, backing down in order to keep the Palestinians from walking away from the negotiating table.

Neither Trump nor Netanyahu offered any new guidelines, let alone details, of a possible plan during their initial meeting Monday, the first of a two-day stay in Israel before the president departs for Rome, where he will meet the Pope. Nevertheless, Netanyahu’s Likud Party reportedly views Trump as an improvement over Barack Obama, who was critical of Israeli’s right-wing caucus, even if Netanyahu is skeptical toward Trump’s suggestion that Israel, the Palestinians, and the wider Sunni Muslim world could be united against Shiite Iran.

“I was deeply encouraged by my conversations with Muslim world leaders in Saudi Arabia, including King Salman, who I spoke to at great length. King Salman feels very strongly and, I can tell you, would love to see peace with Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump said. “There is a growing realization among your Arab neighbors that they have common cause with you in the threat posed by Iran, and it is indeed a threat, there’s no question about that.”