
The five things you need to know today:
ISRAEL. PALESTINE. A proposal to ‘take over’ Gaza is a mirage in the desert.
IRAN. UNITED STATES. Trump’s taunts may signal the start of negotiations.
SYRIA. TURKEY. Talk of a security pact causes regional anxiety.
SWEDEN. A tolerant state is being pushed to its limits.
EL SALVADOR. The ‘coolest dictator’ offers his services.
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ISRAEL. PALESTINE. Developer's nightmare
A proposal to ‘take over’ Gaza is a mirage in the desert.
Speaking after a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump said "the US will take over the Gaza Strip" Tuesday and "level it out" for redevelopment. Hamas said Wednesday it was "ready for contact" with the Trump administration.
INTELLIGENCE. Calling Gaza "the Riviera of the Middle East", Trump said the takeover would involve US troops “if necessary". But after promising voters a withdrawal from the region, the occupation of its most volatile strip seems debateable, to say the least. It will also seem so to Israel’s neighbours, who’ve so far rebuffed any resettlement of Gaza’s 2 million residents. Trump’s remarks should be seen as a gambit to distract or to bargain for something else.
FOR BUSINESS. Throwing a dead cat (or trial balloon) on the table is in keeping with the art of the deal, but after ambit claims on Mexico and Greenland, Trump risks crying wolf. That said, if the idea is serious there would need to be a sufficient quid pro quo to make it work, such as a two-state solution, which Saudi Arabia reiterated Wednesday was an “explicit” condition for recognising Israel. And there would need to be a quid pro quo for sceptical isolationists.
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IRAN. UNITED STATES. Little rocket mullah
Trump’s taunts may signal the start of negotiations.
Trump restored his first term's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran Tuesday ahead of a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition to driving Iran's oil exports to zero, Trump said Iran would be "obliterated" if he was assassinated.
INTELLIGENCE. . In the fashion of ordering a strike on Damascus as Xi Jinping ate chocolate cake in Mar-a-Lago, it’s