On a cease-fire – Liza Rozovsky in Haaretz:

‘This means that to the extent that things depend on Israel, the current cease-fire is a rerun of its predecessor, which came into effect in January: a 60-day pause, maybe a bit longer, followed by renewed attacks and fighting on the pretext that Hamas is unwilling to disarm and completely relinquish control of Gaza.
The section in the draft agreement that tortuously guarantees that Trump and the U.S. are committed to efforts to ensure that "genuine negotiations" or "good faith negotiations" continue until a final agreement is reached leaves Netanyahu with the long-awaited opening to do so.
Hence, his demand that the army draw up a plan for widespread expulsions to the southern Gaza Strip, this time from Gaza City and the central refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans live in post-apocalyptic conditions in destroyed and burned-out buildings, and where bags of rice or flour mixed with lentil powder are suspended on ropes to prevent rats eating them.’

(…)

‘Recent remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who now also serves as Trump's envoy for Syria and Lebanese affairs, indicate that Trump's aides include numerous critics of Israel. He told The New York Times that the cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon was a "total failure," because Israel continues to bomb Lebanon and Hezbollah continues to violate the cease-fire's terms.’

(…)

‘However, at this rate, realizing Trump's vision of expanding the Abraham Accords appears to be a distant, if not unachievable, goal. The big question is how long the U.S. president is willing to wait for the Israeli prime minister on Syria, Lebanon and especially Gaza, after coming to his aid to bomb Iran's nuclear installations.’

Read the article here.

In other words, more of the same.
When is Trump losing his patience with Bibi?

Will a new cease-fire be another failure?

Yesterday somebody told me, ‘it’s hard to be an optimist without being naïve.’

And it’s easier to live with catastrophes when the catastrophe doesn’t take place in your neighborhood.