Cutting aid to the Palestinians, cutting funding to UNRWA, and the Trump administration’s declaration that it does not recognize the Palestinian “right of return,” are all welcomed steps, because  they will force the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and other factions in  the PLO to adopt a more practical view on a permanent resolution to the  conflict. Perhaps these moves could even cause the Palestinians to  recalculate their own steps and come back to the negotiating table with a  paradigm that would be closer to something Israel would consider  acceptable.

But alongside the possibilities in these moves by Washington, we must  first recognize the risks. The economic pressure, which is the result  of cutting UNRWA’s funding, will almost certainly cause a very serious  and very real humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and to a lesser degree in  Judea and Samaria as well.

In addition, the Palestinian leadership’s response to Trump’s  declaration, which pulls the rug out from under the international  legitimacy for the Palestinian “right of return” demand, will almost  certainly spark violence on Gaza and West Bank streets, mostly on the  backdrop of the battle over the PA leadership in the wake of Abbas’s  departure.

Read the full article at Ynet.