Netanyahu meets Trump in the White House in the middle of ceasefire negotiations: NPR

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to meet President Trump since he was sworn last month. Netanyahu arrived at the White House and he holds a press conference with Trump on Tuesday night.

Netanyahu’s visit comes in the midst of phase 2 negotiations of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Phase 1 of the agreement focused on the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

“We are focused on ensuring that Phase 1 finishes exactly as it is to end, that all hostages that are part of this deal come home, including bodies,” Steve Witkoff told the president’s envoy to the Middle East, journalists on Tuesday.

Phase 2 would end the war with Hamas and return all Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza. Witkoff said he is hopeful that all parties “come to the right place.”

Witkoff also said he met Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Florida on Thursday to go over the negotiations. Qatar has served a key role in the mediation of the agreement.

But Trump’s envoy said phase 3 of the ceasefire agreement – reconstruction of Gaza – would be complicated because it is “physically impossible” to rebuild Gaza in five years. A 10-15-year-old timeline would be more likely, he said, because of the damage to Gaza during the war.

Trump stands by suggestions to move Palestinians

Trump has said he wants Jordan and Egypt to take Palestinians living in Gaza, though these parties have rejected the idea.

“I think they should have a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land and we get some people to put the money to build them and do it nicely and make it habitable and fun,” Trump said

He said the United States did not intend to pay to move Palestinians to neighboring countries, and he rejected the idea that moving Palestinians would constitute forced displacement.

“They don’t have an alternative right now. I mean they are there because they have no alternative. What do they have? It’s a big pile of rubble right now. I mean have you seen the pictures of it? Have you been there is terrible to live.

Asked later if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza after reconstruction, Trump said: “It would be my hope that we could do something really good, really good where they wouldn’t return. Why would they like to turn back that place has been hell.

Trump has also raised doubts about how durable the ceasefire is.

“I have no guarantees that peace will last,” he told journalists in the Oval Office on Monday.

Netanyahu said Tuesday, “When the United States and Israel cooperate, and when Trump and I work together, chances go up a lot” for progress at the ceasefire.

New executive orders in the region

On Tuesday, Trump signed two executive orders related to the Middle East. One puts “maximum” pressure on Iran. Trump said he was “torn” to sign it.

“I sign this and I’m unhappy with doing it, but I don’t have that much choices because we have to be strong and fasting,” Trump said, adding that he hopes he doesn’t have to use it.

“For me it’s very simple. Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. He said the United States has the right to block the sale of Iranian oil to other countries.

The second order pulled the United States out of the United Nations Human Rights Council and cut off assistance to the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which is the main group that provides help to Palestinians.

The UNHRC has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for being a party against Israel.

This order is also considering pulling the United States out of UNESCO, the united nations’ educational, scientific and cultural organization.