Use the term “peace process” and watch an Israeli squirm.

Since Oslo, the peace process is synonymous with shrinking borders, jeopardized security, and delusions that terrorist groups sworn to Israel’s destruction will start humming “Hatikvah.”

So in spite of the Trump administration’s groundbreaking support for Israel in so many geopolitical arenas, there will be nervous moments on Jason Greenblatt’s Jerusalem visit this week as Trump’s international envoy preps the Netanyahu government on his soon-to-be-released peace plan.

Two recent news items heighten Israeli concern. Greenblatt told Yedioth Ahronoth that Gaza and the West Bank have been separated for ten years, not only physically, but politically, and that Trump’s peace plan intends to bring them together. Trump himself told France’s President Emmanuel Macron that he intends to pressure Netanyahu for concessions.

What Israel fears, and will never agree to, is a rebirth of Shimon Peres’s proposal to build a land bridge physically linking Gaza with Ramallah in the West Bank.

It is doubtful Trump would go down that road, considering it would divide Israel north and south — in the same way that Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria would divide Israel east and west. Until given a reason to interpret Greenblatt’s remarks differently, it pays to give him the benefit of the doubt that his quote is a case of twisted syntax and he was referring only to political unity. Returning Gaza to Palestinian Authority rule is risky, but given a choice between the PA and Hamas, the PA is the lesser of two evils.

And while Trump is a high-pressure operator, Bibi can handle it. I’ve covered Netanyahu on two occasions when he answered questions about the Trump plan in almost jocular fashion, “When it comes out, we’ll have a look at it.”

Israel’s strategy is to embrace the sections it likes; continue to make quiet overtures to the Arab world, some of which the Trump administration is facilitating; and count on the Palestinians to bear the brunt of Trump’s wrath when they reject his plan in its entirety.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 733)