(Wall Street Journal) Gerald F. Seib - President Donald Trump plans to make his first trip abroad by going to Saudi Arabia, where leaders of other Muslim nations will be gathered, and Israel. Historically, America's three most important partners in the region are Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. At the moment, all three of those nations actually are strategically in sync with one another - and, simultaneously, on good terms with the new American administration. Throw in Jordan, the other traditional American partner now generally in step with the others, and you have a new state of affairs. But Arab leaders are trapped by decades of their own anti-Israel rhetoric, which inflames their populations and restricts their ability to adopt a new posture now. In the face of bigger problems, Arab leaders increasingly appear to be losing patience with and interest in the Palestinians' problems. But decades of preaching to their own people about the primacy of the issue can't be simply brushed away.
2017-05-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive