Palestine/Israeli update 3/22/2018..Olmert To Netanyahu: "Resign With Dignity"

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Israeli intelligence: “large scale terror attacks across the West Bank” – TV7 Israel News 22.03.18

Hezbollah chief outlines plans for parliamentary elections

Jared Kushner’s Dreams of Mideast Peace Are Alive

His strategy of developing a relationship with the Saudi crown prince is a step in the right direction.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-21/israeli-palestinian-peace-deal-is-alive-thanks-to-jared-kushner

It was easy to miss it, what with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson being fired and President Donald Trump fueling rumors of more personnel shake-ups. But last week Jared Kushner, presidential adviser and son-in-law, presided over a highly unusual White House conference on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Who participated was noteworthy: Israel was there, alongside Arab states with which it does not have diplomatic relations, such as Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Who didn’t participate was noteworthy too: the Palestinians, who have been boycotting Trump since his announcement that the U.S. will have an embassy in Jerusalem.

The meaning of the conference can only be deciphered in relation to the Kushner-led peace effort. That long-shot effort is alive, notwithstanding Kushner’s defeat by chief of staff John Kelly in the White House palace intrigue over security clearance…………….

……………………..From this perspective, the conference is a fairly big deal, at least as a signal of how alliances are shaking out and how friendless the Palestinians really are at the moment.

A deal, however, isn’t imminent, or even on the horizon. In the end, the Arab states can’t actually sign a peace agreement without a Palestinian state signing it, too. They would lose too much legitimacy at home, thus losing ground to Iran, which the very enemy they are seeking to marginalize by allying with Israel in the first place.

Abbas knows this, which is why he is taking the risky tack of just saying no to the Saudi crown prince and the whole idea of a Trump peace deal. He’s worried that any deal the Israelis would offer under Trump’s aegis would be a deal he wouldn’t want to accept, or couldn’t accept without a Hamas takeover as the sure consequence.

Abbas’s rational gamble is that the deal will die of its own accord — for example, if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted and/or resigns as a result of corruption allegations against him, or if his coalition collapses for other reasons………………

………………If this is a nonstarter for Netanyahu in his politically and ethically weakened condition, then all Kushner’s successes with MBS won’t be enough to deliver a deal. The aftermath may include some more informal contacts between Israel and Saudi Arabia, to the strategic benefit of each — but no long-term alliance against Iran, and no regional realignment.

That remains by far the most likely outcome. But it’s not (yet) inevitable. Despite skepticism among area experts that he lacks the tools to do the job, Kushner is still in the game.