Even with Biden, talks with Palestinians not on Israel’s agenda

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi’s call Nov. 18 urging the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table without preconditions is highly unlikely to result in a renewed peace process with Israel. Ashkenazi took advantage of the media coverage of his meeting in Jerusalem with Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, who was on a historic visit to Israel, to convey a conciliatory message to the Palestinians a day after they announced the resumption of security coordination with Israel that they suspended almost a year ago.

However, Ashkenazi’s was almost a lone voice in the government, lacking any operational significance as long as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still engaged with President Donald Trump.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas severed security coordination in anger after Trump’s “deal of the century” for Israeli-Palestinian peace was unveiled in January and Netanyahu announced his intention to annex parts of the West Bank with Washington’s approval.

The coronavirus epidemic broke out in Israel in February, and Israel held  its third election in less than a year March 2, which like the two previous rounds failed to yield decisive results. Netanyahu’s Likud formed a unity government with the rival Blue and White party in May, followed a few months later by the signing of peace and normalization agreements with Gulf States, relegating the Palestinians to the nether margins of the Israeli-American agenda.