The West Bank, Not Gaza, Should Be Trump’s Priority

The West Bank, Not Gaza, Should Be Trump's Priority

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Argument:

The West Bank, Not Gaza, Should Be Trump’s Priority

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Argument

An expert’s point of view on a current event.

The West Bank, Not Gaza, Should Be Trump’s Priority

With his Gaza plan dead in the water, he should refocus on preventing the next conflagration.

By **Azriel Bermant**, an associate researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague.

!Palestinians walk through a cloud of smoke after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers on the village of Tell in the occupied West Bank on July 18.

*Palestinians walk through a cloud of smoke after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers on the village of Tell in the occupied West Bank on July 18.*

Palestinians walk through a cloud of smoke after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers on the village of Tell in the occupied West Bank on July 18. Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP via Getty Images

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August 11, 2026, 7:23 AM

At the end of July, the Trump administration claimed that Hamas had accepted a roadmap toward disarming. It looks highly unlikely that either Israel or Hamas will deliver on the alleged terms. The apparent flexibility shown by Hamas is likely a delaying tactic to ensure its long-term political survival, since the organization’s officials have already made it clear that it will not give up its arms before every soldier from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has left the Gaza Strip.

Trump’s Second Term

Ongoing reports and analysis

The so-called Gaza roadmap has little chance in succeeding because of a classic catch-22: Israel will not withdraw fully from Gaza if Hamas does not disarm, and Hamas will not disarm if Israel does not withdraw. Thus, it came as little surprise when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently rejected Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Concessions to Hamas would go down badly among right-wing voters in Israel ahead of the country’s upcoming election in October. As the endless stream of supposed “deals” with Iran demonstrates, the world has grown accustomed to U.S. President Donald Trump making grand announcements that have little basis in reality.

At the end of July, the Trump administration claimed that Hamas had accepted a roadmap toward disarming. It looks highly unlikely that either Israel or Hamas will deliver on the alleged terms. The apparent flexibility shown by Hamas is likely a delaying tactic to ensure its long-term political survival, since the organization’s officials have already made it clear

that it will not give up its arms before every soldier from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has left the Gaza Strip.

Trump’s Second Term

Ongoing reports and analysis

The so-called Gaza roadmap has little chance in succeeding because of a classic catch-22: Israel will not withdraw fully from Gaza if Hamas does not disarm, and Hamas will not disarm if Israel does not withdraw. Thus, it came as little surprise when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently rejected Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Concessions to Hamas would go down badly

among right-wing voters in Israel ahead of the country’s upcoming election in October. As the endless stream of supposed “deals” with Iran demonstrates, the world has grown accustomed to U.S. President Donald Trump making grand announcements that have little basis in reality.

This doesn’t mean that the Trump administration is wrong to try and resolve the conflict in Gaza. However, the larger problem lies elsewhere: While Washington is trying to shoot for the moon in Gaza, it is ignoring an explosive crisis brewing in the West Bank that is within its power to rein in. The West Bank violence is fueled in part by the White House’s own policy choices. By revoking

the Biden administration’s sanctions on violent settler groups and failing to restrain its ally, the Trump administration bears much of the blame for emboldening Israeli settler extremists.

Paradoxically, traditional Palestinian terror threats in the West Bank have fallen significantly. In an assessment released in January, the IDF reported that Palestinian-caused incidents of terrorism in the West Bank had fallen by 78 percent

. Yet the risk of a full-scale outbreak of Palestinian violence is severe. What’s more, a flare-up would serve the Netanyahu government’s interests ahead of the October elections, as it would unite its far-right base and foment division among Israel’s opposition.

The IDF and Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet have long warned that an explosion in the West Bank is coming, and recent developments demonstrate how combustible the situation has become. This time around, however, it is not militant Palestinian groups but the Israeli government that is deliberately fanning the flames. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds ministerial responsibilities in the Defense Ministry, has exploited these powers to transform policy on Jewish settlements in the West Bank. At least 104 settlements

have been legalized since the current Netanyahu government came to power in 2022.

Smotrich’s explicit goal has been to eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state, and he does not hide his aspiration to annex the West Bank. The profusion of outposts and farms adjacent to Palestinian villages has created constant friction between Israelis and Palestinians. Gangs of settlers reg