Each time, there's suspense.Some stage-managing, some confusion but a third round of exchanges of Gaza hostages for Palestinian prisoners in the end keeping the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal on the rails. We’ll ask about the optics and about a long process that’s only in its first phase. Betting odds for the long term are poor. Israel’s prime minister has even assured his far-right coalition partners he'll pull the plug before phase two but what’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s saying to Donald Trump’s envoy? Steve Witkoff who’s already twisted arms to keep the process on the rails. Trump doesn’t want war on his watch.That's s not to say that the president of the United States suddenly sees himself as the guarantor of Palestinian rights. After all, Trump's now floated the concept of emptying Gaza of its population and turning reconstruction into a beachfront real estate project. As for the surge in violence in the West Bank and Israel’s closure of the UN agency for Palestinians, Washington’s silence speaks tomes.
