Edwardsson: Trump sätter ner foten för israelisk annektering av Västbanken

The US president Donald Trump has demanded that Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu address the issue of whether Israel should annex the West Bank What is happening in Israel right now Yes this can be seen as the political aftermath of the peace agreement from last week For it's just that however strange it may sound to Swedes it's not everyone on both sides who is completely satisfied with this agreement I wouldn't say that at least on the Israeli side they want war but there are many who are ready to continue the war anyway There are certain visions of a great one in Israel and other things that linger in the background here The Israeli parliament and especially the government coalition of the current government is very fragmented and there are small parties that have visions one could say One of them is to annex the entire West Bank but as I said the US and Trump have already stepped in and put their foot down saying that they will never support this That would probably cause some fallout Not only this peace agreement but maybe even threaten the Abraham Accords That's exactly what comes up in the discussion about whether a Palestinian state can even exist at all and so on How common is it for an American president to make such strict demands on Israel It is unusual to be so very clear and detailed Sometimes all it takes is a subtle glance or even a speaking silence now and then Men here it seems clear and I think the Trump administration believes that one must be very clear in a clear situation If this decision had been approved it would have threatened the entire peace process in a broader sense not just Gaza It's quite soon after the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas Why is the country proceeding with such a vote Yes these are just small extremist parties in Israel The Likud the major ruling party has had a number of members who have voted for this but they largely abstained and are participating in this This is an Israeli issue If one wants perhaps one can compare it to the discussion regarding Ukraine about how important peace is Can we accept a compromise to achieve peace or should we continue fighting forever for 100 percent There are Israelis who want the entire West Bank who dream of a greater Israel Politically speaking realistically it's just a dream that will probably never come true Depending on the fact that there are several million Palestinians who have lived there for a very long time You can discuss how long but it's a real political puzzle piece in this game that no one can ignore If one is serious and wants to try to achieve a functioning long-term peace agreement Many Palestinians also want Israel to completely cease to exist What does this mean for Netanyahu and what consequences would this have if it continued As far as I understand I am not an expert on Israeli domestic politics The current government is holding onto a mandate that as I understand it has been seriously questioned He's a member of the government a party leader of one of the religious extremist parties that are driving this As I understand it he would make this a cabinet matter and resign if he doesn't get his way Then it would be new what we in Sweden would call a tax increase If a continuing majority cannot be formed then new elections will have to be held This has happened many times before in Israel With this warning from the US what is the chance that Israel will still choose to proceed with this Netanyahu is a hawk but he is also a realist I have a very hard time seeing how he would risk everything from the gas agreement to the agreement with Iran After the bombings in June the Abraham Accords This is something like that which according to all reasonable assessments will never be able to happen It's possible that he has to so to speak take a break and use strong words and such I really can't see how such a shrewd politician would allow himself to be painted into a corner on such a hopeless issue It is the US that has effectively placed its veto here and in this way it becomes the most secure We have the Abraham Accords we have the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and as you say there is also an agreement to some extent with Iran How important is this peace process for the United States For President Trump it is extremely important Next to Ukraine it is the most important For what Trump wants in the long term is to get the US out of its so-called eternal wars in which the US has been involved in recent decades He wants to significantly roll back the United States' international commitments He thinks it's either the US's responsibility or that the US can no longer afford this and to be involved everywhere Now one is not directly involved with Trump in Israel itself but it's still if one could achieve peace there The USA pays billions of dollars each year in aid to Israel to help them maintain protection against rockets missiles or whatever they are called Ultimately there are only positive things if the entire area could calm down It's still unclear but if you look at it from a distance it's currently a historic opportunity Pour oil on troubled waters in several places We have as mentioned Ibrahim's chord then Trump's previous part and now this tentative agreement with Iran and now also Gaza Israel Hamas If all these puzzle pieces could fit together and start reinforcing each other that would be a huge victory Both for Trump personally who wants to present himself as a peace president and for the United States as a country It would reduce the long-term need for political economic and military involvement in this region The US has many bases in the Middle East including Qatar it helps Saudi Arabia a lot and there are mutual investments How important is long-term peace in the Middle East geopolitically for the United States It's almost the biggest remaining piece of the puzzle in this area If one could get Arab states all Arab states or Muslim states to recognize Israel and accept Israel's right to exist it would fundamentally change the global situation Along with Taiwan Ukraine and one or two other hotspots these are the areas that are constantly in the news what are the headlines about This is basically the two three four major cancerous wounds so to speak and the Middle East along with Ukraine is definitely the biggest one and if you can fix them it would be a huge relief not only for the US but also for Europe and the world at large What is the next step in this process is it threatened by this vote from Israel For these extremist parties it's nothing new they have existed for decades and it's certainly factored into the calculations that one of them would behave in this way We'll see if they can handle them as said forcing a new election in Israel yes then we'll see how it goes but I can't see any government that doesn't support the Israel-Hamas agreement This is a right-wing government now and left-wing governments have shown themselves even more willing to make concessions than right-wing governments so I don't see how this would lead to a new government that would overturn these agreements It could get complicated on the way if there were a new election of this kind as it would take several weeks or months and then the process would have to try to stay alive during that period but we are not there yet It was a major American city visit in Israel this week what does it mean for the peace process It's mainly a symbol it's about Trump himself when the agreement was signed and now following up with several heavyweights it's what's called signal politics They are showing that just because we have two name covers on a paper so to speak we are still taking this seriously and we are not lowering the guard so to speak So it's just that this is high-level diplomacy and politics and that's just how Per works sending signals and showing It's precisely this it's also somewhat to emphasize the USA has now taken on a mediating role but we are best friends with Israel It was Trump's son-in-law who was here and he is of Jewish descent himself and things like that So it was a way to show support for both Israel and the peace process We've touched on this before but why are the ties between Israel and the US so strong It is historical and ideological political ties briefly repeated The USA was one of the first countries in the world to recognize Israel in 1948 It relied heavily on the fact that then-president Truman had several good Jewish friends who thought he should recognize it That was a very important signal as the US approval made many other countries recognize Israel as well There is a religious dimension here many so-called evangelical Christians believe in this thesis that Jesus cannot return until all Israelis have been able to move back to Israel So you need an Israel there you have a religious one Then there is also a more cultural one Israelis and Americans see a bit of themselves in each other Refugee countries surrounded by hostile peoples in the case of Americans it was Indians back then and for the Israelis it's Arabs There is a very unique sense of emotional political economic and military diplomatic solidarity here It's the only thing coming to the US that is stronger than this special relationship between the US and Britain The more deeply you go into historical linguistic and a thousand other reasons