As Donald Trump prepares for his White-house return‚ the Middle-east landscape looks different from his first term — theres both new challenges and fresh opportunities ahead
The ex-presidents earlier term brought some note-worthy changes to the region: he led the fight that crushed ISIS (which controlled large parts of Syria) and created the ground-breaking Abraham Accords. These agreements helped several Arab countries to start talking with Israel; something that wasnt possible before
Last years Oct 7 attack on Israel by Hamas might have been linked to Saudi-Arabiaʼs interest in joining these accords: a move that wouldʼve made life harder for Iran-backed groups in the region. Trump always saw Iran as the main trouble-maker — thats why he dropped out of the nuclear-deal that didnt stop Irans regional activities
- Removing Hamas from Qatar
- Getting more Arab states to work with Israel
- Finding new ways to deal with Palestinian state-hood
- Making sure Iran cant cause more problems
His son-in-law Jared Kushnerʼs peace plan might get another shot now. According to Brian Hook (Trumps former Iran expert)‚ the “deal of the century“ peace plan could come back. With Hamas power now reduced and Hezbollah taking hits‚ theres a real chance for change
The new administration seems ready to act fast: US officials are already pushing to get Hamas out of Qatar (even though this country hosts an important US military base). Its different from current attempts at peace-talks which keep getting stuck because of Hamas representatives in Qatar