All five of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meetings this year with US President Donald Trump were important landmarks for Israel’s security and standing in the world. Yet the sixth, slated for Monday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, comes at an especially critical point, where difficult decisions must be made on the way forward in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

The first phase of Trump’s 20-point vision for Gaza, announced in September following the leaders’ fourth meeting in Washington and celebrated in October during their most recent meeting in the Knesset, is reaching its endpoint. Though such a feat was difficult to imagine on that “big, big day,” when the leaders announced the plan in the White House, all the living hostages have since returned to Israel, and the body of only one slain hostage remains in Gaza. Food and aid are flowing into most of the Strip.

This hardly came easily. Even the first phase of the plan, ostensibly more straightforward than the second, required close American oversight in the form of the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat and a steady stream of visiting senior officials to maintain the ceasefire. Deadly Hamas attacks on IDF troops and escalating Israeli strikes in response strained the truce. The Rafah crossing between Israel and Egypt is supposed to open in both directions, but remains shut, as Egypt refuses to open it at all as long as Israel insists that Gazans only be allowed out and no one in.

Moreover, Hamas was supposed to hand over all the slain hostages in the first 72 hours, but handed over none. Instead, they were returned in small batches, with Israel accusing the terror group of intentionally slowing down the process to buy time.

Trump and his advisers believe that the key to the deal’s success is maintaining momentum. As long as things keep moving forward, an alternative to Hamas will gradually emerge, and the terror group will weaken over time.

Israel, on the other hand, recognizes that Hamas has no intention of disarming, and Israeli leaders are not afraid of saying as much publicly.

It appears that the International Stabilization Force that the US is trying to pull together will not be anything that Hamas would fear. No nation wants to send troops if they would need to engage in combat, and, were powerful, hostile countries like Turkey and Pakistan to contribute, they would represent a shield behind which the Palestinian terror group can rebuild its........

© The Times of Israel