Ghaith al-Omari is the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Senior Fellow in The Washington Institute's Irwin Levy Family Program on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship.
Lia Weiner is a research assistant at The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
Although Israeli trust-building steps are important, Palestinian leaders need to reciprocate by clearly showing their people that peace and terrorism are incompatible.
President Trump has shown interest in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terming it "the ultimate deal" and recently sending his peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, on a first visit to the region. Any progress on this front, however, must first address the lack of trust that exists between the two sides. Israeli settlement construction undermines the Palestinians' trust, as they believe that it slowly but surely erodes the geographical possibility of the Palestinian state. For the Israelis, the Palestinian incitement to violence casts serious doubt as to whether the Palestinians are serious about peace...
