Trump and Netanyahu meet to discuss next phase of Gaza ceasefire plan

Israel's prime minister met President Trump at the White House Monday to discuss next steps in the peace plan with Gaza and across the region.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Mar-a-Lago on Monday with President Trump - their sixth meeting since Trump returned to office this year.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The two men discussed how to move Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan into the next phase and sent a stern warning to Iran to not attempt to rebuild its nuclear or missile capacity.

FADEL: NPR's Michele Kelemen has been following all this from Jerusalem and joins me now. Good morning, Michele.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So, Michele, there had been a lot of speculation that the two men could be at odds over moving on to Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire plan. Critics accuse Netanyahu and his government of dragging their feet on that. Was there any friction that we could see in the meeting?

KELEMEN: Well, it was quite the opposite in public, at least. You know, the two men were really praising each other. Netanyahu said that Trump is getting the Israel Prize, which is usually only given to Israelis. And Trump said that Israel probably wouldn't still exist if it hadn't been for Netanyahu's wartime leadership. He again said that he thinks that Netanyahu should be pardoned rather than face a corruption trial. And the other thing the two men agreed on was the need for Hamas to give up its power and weapons in Gaza. Here's Trump.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If they don't disarm as they agreed to do - they agreed to it - and then there'll be hell to pay for them. And we don't want that. We're not looking for that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time.

KELEMEN: And then, on the other hand, Trump said that he's not concerned at all about the frequent Israeli airstrikes that have killed hundreds of people in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect more than two months ago. He said that Israel has lived up to the plan, quote, "100%."

FADEL: Now, a ceasefire in which hundreds of people have been killed, and it's still in Phase 1. I mean, is there any progress on that next step of this Trump plan?

KELEMEN: Well, Trump still has not appointed his Board of Peace or said who's going to run Gaza. It's also not clear when an international force is going to be in place. You know, he even suggested that such a force could disarm Hamas, though countries that are thinking about sending troops have very different views on that. So here's where things are stuck. I mean, Hamas shows no signs of giving up power or weapons without negotiations on a Palestinian state. Israel shows no interest in pulling back in Gaza or getting on a path toward a Palestinian state. And inside Gaza, Leila, things are really pretty dire still. It's been rainy and cold here, and we're hearing reports of children dying because of the cold weather and floods. And much of Gaza remains in ruins.

FADEL: The two leaders seem to be in broad agreement on another issue - Iran. What did they say about that?

KELEMEN: Israel says that Iran is now building up its ballistic missile stockpile, and it's worried about that. When Trump was asked about that, he said, if we're going to have to go knock them down again, we're going to do it. But he also said he's open to a deal with Iran, so it was a bit of a confusing message. What Israeli analysts say they heard in Trump's comments was that if Iran reconstitutes its nuclear program, the U.S. is going to act, and that he's giving Israel a green light to take action against Iran's ballistic missile program. At least that's how people here in Israel are interpreting the president's comments on Iran.

FADEL: So was there anything they didn't agree on?

KELEMEN: Well, Trump said he didn't agree with Netanyahu a hundred percent on the West Bank. Some far-right ministers in Netanyahu's government want to annex the West Bank, something Trump has said he opposes. But he didn't really air his grievances about that in public. He said he thinks that Netanyahu will make the right decisions on the West Bank.

FADEL: That's NPR's Michele Kelemen in Jerusalem. Thank you, Michele.

KELEMEN: Thank you.

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