JORDAN RIFT Relations today between Hussein’s successor — his son Abdullah II — and Prime Minister Netanyahu have gone incendiary following their public spats over Israeli security on the Temple Mount and the follow-up attack on Israel’s embassy in Amman (Photos: AFP/Imagebank)

E ven as he beats the drums of war with North Korea President Trump is preparing to take another stab at Middle East peace.

Last weekend the White House announced it was dispatching Senior Advisor Jared Kushner Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy Dina Powell to the region to continue discussions with regional partners on a renewed peace process.

Trump’s peace trio will meet leaders from Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates Qatar Jordan Egypt Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

If the Trump administration is hoping to succeed where their predecessors have failed they might want to keep the following points in mind:

1. Mend the Jordan Rift

A generation has passed since the famous picture of Yitzhak Rabin lighting King Hussein’s cigarette for him in an act of friendship. Relations today between Hussein’s successor — his son Abdullah II — and Prime Minister Netanyahu have gone incendiary following their public spats over Israeli security on the Temple Mount and the follow-up attack on Israel’s embassy in Amman.

Abdullah will never light Bibi’s cigar for him but he needs Israel’s defense and intelligence expertise to survive. In turn Israel needs a stable Jordan as a buffer state from the chaos in Iraq and Syria. Abdullah may support a Palestinian state in public but privately he views it as a greater threat to him than to Israel. American negotiators would be wise to internalize that an independent Palestine equals a destabilized Jordan — and an inadvertent welcome mat for Iran and ISIS.

2. Pressure the Palestinians

Diplomats and politicians fret about who might take over if Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas dies or gets booted out but it’s clear the PA is living on borrowed time not to mention borrowed money. The international community has cut aid to the PA by 70% over the past eight years in what is politely termed “donor fatigue.”

Sometime after the Labor Day recess ends Congress is due to take up the Taylor Force Act a bill that would cut US aid to the PA if Ramallah continues to pay lifetime annuities to terrorists and their families. If Taylor Force is to serve as a real lever of pressure against the PA Congress will have to close some major holes in the legislation and the White House must offer more than just lukewarm support for the measure.

3. Curb Hezbollah’s Chatter

In a speech Sunday marking the 11th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War Hezbollah’s secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah taunted Israel for closing its ammonia plant in Haifa after the terror group threatened to bomb it. Nasrallah also said that Israel’s nuclear power plant in Dimona was within range of his group’s long-range missiles. It was quite a boast from the terrorist chieftain who has been holed up in an underground bunker since the end of the Second Lebanon War fearing Israeli assassins.

Still Israel takes the military threat from Lebanon seriously. Less than 30 miles separates Dimona from the pre-1967 borders. A Palestinian state wouldn’t need long-range rockets to threaten Dimona or Ben-Gurion Airport. Congress is considering tougher sanctions against Hezbollah but the Iran-sponsored group laughs that off. The way to shake them is to convey a message that the US will support Israel if it chooses to make an overwhelming show of force against the terrorist entity and that it will give Israel enough diplomatic slack to let them finish the job.

4. Talk Turkey to Turkey