“The Palestinian issue originally achieved strategic importance for the US primarily as a result of the Cold War and the US-Soviet competition for allies in the strategic Middle East. With the end of the cold war there has been a sometimes-serious debate about just how important the issue is to the United States. For the most part its importance has been assumed. Everybody knows it is important – but is it really important to us? And what about Israel?
Read MoreAt their meeting tomorrow the match-up will be uneven. Bibi does his homework and will know precisely what has been going on in the White House and the Congress. He will be better informed than his interlocutors, including the President. His intelligence on the Middle East region as it impacts on Israel is better than ours, and his attention to detail makes him a formidable negotiator. Bibi has a lot in common with President Trump but has been at it a lot longer. If there is a clash, we will probably not see it. But if President Trump thinks he can bully Prime Minister Netanyahu, Trump better be prepared to lose.
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