Witkoff meets Netanyahu: Strengthening Security, Broadening Circle of Peace and Ending the War in the Middle East Through Strength

Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, joined the yearlong ceasefire negotiations in their final weeks last month and helped push the agreement over the finish line. He met with Netanyahu in Israel last week and the two were expected to formally begin talks on the second phase in Washington on Monday.

The second phase of a ceasefire deal would allow for the release of Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza, and end the war with Hamas. Also on the table is a bargain that could reshape the Middle East for decades to come: a deal to open Israel’s diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

The recent hostage releases have seen many masked masked Hamas fighters parade Israelis on makeshift stages before freeing them.

According to local health authorities, Israel’s air and ground war has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, of which almost half are women and children. In addition to the large areas of rubble, the war has caused the displacement of over 90 percent of the population of Gaza.

He said that by working together, they could “strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength.”

Ahead of Netanyahu’s departure on Sunday, he released a statement saying they would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components.”

He has pledged to end wars in the Middle East, but has also been an ardent supporter of Israel. A deal has halted fighting and resulted in the release of 18 hostages who had been held for over 15 months and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Netanyahu, who is under mounting pressure from far-right governing partners to resume the war after the first phase ends in early March, has said Israel is still committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all the hostages captured in the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

The Israeli-Israeli Interaction in the Second Stage of the 1967 Mideast War and Trump’s Threat to Lead Israel to a Palestinian State

Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit Tuesday will be rife with symbolism. He’s the first world leader to meet since Trump’s inauguration.

But the kingdom, which resisted similar entreaties from the Biden administration, has said it would only agree to such a deal if the war ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

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.

Trump, who brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries in his first term, is believed to be seeking a wider and potentially historic agreement in which Israel would forge ties with Saudi Arabia.

Victoria Coates, an analyst at The Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C., and a deputy national security adviser to Trump during his first term, said the U.S. president will find it difficult to satisfy that Saudi demand.

Israel will be very conscious of its internal security after October 7, when the kingdom’s deal with us is scheduled to be completed. It has to. The deal that was looking imminent in the 2020-21 time frame may be taking longer now.

Trump has also floated the prospect of relocating Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Egypt and Jordan. Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are against the idea.

On Saturday, family and friends cheered as American Israeli hostage Keith Siegel was freed by Hamas. Many at the gathering at Siegel’s extended family’s home in central Israel expressed concern about the war restarting before all hostages were freed. Rabbi Steve Burnstein thinks U.S. pressure can make a difference.

He said that he hoped the Americans would do everything they could to make sure that the Israeli government can reach the second stage of the deal.

At the rally, which she spoke frankly about US-Israeli politics without repercussions, she said that only Trump could get Netanyahu to seal another deal.

One of the biggest unanswered questions is if Israel will launch a military strike on a weakened Iran, after a year of intense fighting against its proxies.

According to Talshir, the prime minister might like to return to war given Netanyahu’s desire to retain his job and remain in office.