Could President Donald Trump officially recognize Palestine as an independent state on his trip to the Middle East? That’s what some analysts are predicting as a lively debate rages in the Arab media sphere over just how far the U.S. president will go while abroad.
There had already been some writing on the wall that Trump’s Middle East tour — which includes visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — was not coming in the midst of a period of unalloyed harmony between the administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hebrew-language Israeli media reported Thursday that “the U.S. president is disappointed with Prime Minister Netanyahu” after he pressured now-former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to sign off on an all-out military action by Israel against Iran.
The Washington Post also reported that, prior to a White House meeting between Trump and Netanyahu in March, Waltz looked to be “engaged in intense coordination with Netanyahu about military options against Iran,” something Trump opposed.
A source said Waltz “wanted to take U.S. policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the U.S. hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution … It got back to Trump and the president wasn’t happy with it.”
That makes many wonder if Trump will use the occasion to join the 147 U.N. members which consider Palestine to be a legitimate state, albeit with some conditions.
The closest report we’ve seen to something like this comes from an unnamed “Gulf diplomatic source” who talked anonymously with American-based Middle East-centric news outlet The Media Line — who said he felt confident in predicting that outcome.
“President Donald Trump will issue a declaration regarding the State of Palestine and American recognition of it, and that there will be the establishment of a Palestinian state without the presence of Hamas,” he said in an article published Friday evening.
“If an announcement of American recognition of the state of Palestine is made, it will be the most important declaration that will change the balance of power in the Middle East, and more countries will join the Abraham Accords.”
Other sources disagreed — including a former Gulf diplomat willing to go on record, unlike the anonymous source predicting U.S. endorsement of Palestinian statehood.
Ahmed Al-Ibrahim, a former diplomat, said he thought this would be about tariffs and trade.
“I don’t expect it to be about Palestine,” the source said.
Hellbound and Down 