The Trump administration continues to speak of its Middle East peace plan. In a pre-Rosh Hashanah phone call with rabbis and Jewish leaders last Thursday, President Trump said: “I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians and the Palestinian leaders. If we don’t make a deal, we’re not paying. I said to some of the past negotiators. ‘Did you ever do that before? Did you ever use the money angle?’ They said, ‘No, sir. We thought it would be disrespectful.’ I said, ‘I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all’ … And I really do believe we’re going to make a deal.”

Yet, the context for the “ultimate deal” could not be worse.

A fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza may or may not hold; the last conflict, in 2014, lasted more than 50 days. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas continues to withhold monies from Gaza despite terrible conditions there, to pressure Hamas even as he rejects direct talks with Israel. He also rejects dealing directly with the Trump administration because it recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocated the U.S. embassy there.

Read the full article at The Hill here.