President Donald Trump is sending his Middle East team, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, back to the region this month to try to energize peace talks. But they are about to confront some hard truths about their Israeli-Palestinian peace effort. Perhaps earlier than expected, it has become clear in recent days that whatever faint hopes there were of a breakthrough, or even renewed talks, are beyond reach for now.

What gives rise to this conclusion is a sober-eyed assessment of the political circumstances of the three critical players: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Trump himself. All three of them face dramatic challenges that make any serious movement impossible.

Netanyahu is fighting for his political life. Under investigation by the Israeli police on multiple allegations of corruption, he has turned to his right-wing political base for succor. At a rally with supporters in Tel Aviv last week, he charged that the investigations were an attempt of the media and “the left” to overthrow his government in a “coup” and replace it with one that would make deep concessions to the Palestinians. Having adopted this strategy, and with the investigations likely to play out for many more months, he has no room to take risks in renewed peace talks.

Read the full article in Foreign Policy.