“'[Middle East policy] will not figure prominently,' Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to president Barack Obama, and now William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute, told the Post. 'COVID-19 and the economic realities will be the preoccupation [of this election cycle],' he predicted. “'Foreign policy, in general, will factor in, as it relates to getting broader control over the virus and the prospects for economic recovery,' he noted. 'Demand for oil will remain depressed, reducing the public’s interest in [...]

"Israel will very likely have a new government soon. Benny Gantz made this possible by agreeing on March 26 to form a national unity government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Gantz’s critics have savaged him for doing so. They are outraged because, after the election, Gantz was in a relatively strong position. Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc had 58 seats, but the anti-Netanyahu bloc had 62—including 15 seats from the largely Arab Joint List. The Joint List’s leader, Ayman Odeh, made clear the [...]

"Saudi Arabia is hosting the Group of 20 summit in November of this year. But given the current crisis, the Saudis announced recently that it will convene a virtual G-20 leaders’ summit next week 'to advance a coordinated response to the covid-19 pandemic and its human and economic implications.' "The virtual summit is clearly needed to mobilize a response to a pandemic that respects no borders. It’s a sign of the times, however, that the United States is nowhere to be [...]

"Asked what the next president’s priority should be in the Mideast, Ross doesn’t hesitate. It is, he says, 'adopting policies with those who have been our partners to improve their governance. Poor governance spawns rage and extremist ideologies.' Countries where the risks of failing to improve governance converge with opportunities to do so are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, the Emirates and Bahrain. "At the same time, Ross says, the United States is strategically obliged and well-served to 'contest those who [...]

"'It would not be easy for [Senator Sanders] given the legislation,' said Dennis Ross, a former US diplomat who has worked on the Israeli-Palestinian file for decades. "'The waiver was provided to justify why the embassy had not been moved given the requirement to do so. In theory, he might try to say for national security reasons we needed to do so. But what would those reasons be? For peace? What would be the signs this would make a difference?...'" Read [...]

"The Trump administration cannot decide if its peace plan is an opening gambit to trigger a compromise or a fait accompli that precludes one. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in answering a question about Palestinian responses to the Plan said, 'I hope they will then present a counteroffer if what’s presented isn’t acceptable.' Fair enough, except that David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, declared that Israel can unilaterally annex territories allotted in the plan once a bilateral U.S.-Israeli panel finishes [...]

"The Trump administration has now unveiled its Mideast peace plan. While we should expect plenty of debate about its terms, which represent a sharp departure from past U.S. peacemaking efforts, another development has essentially pushed the plan into the background. Israeli officials have announced that they plan to annex all West Bank settlements next week. If they do, this new phase of the process will be dead before it really starts. "The peace plan was supposed to take the interests of [...]