(From Washington, United States) The White House looks today like a fortress protected by dozens of Secret Service agents, trucks blocking all access points on Pennsylvania Avenue and local police patrols, awaiting the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will have dinner tonight with Donald Trump to agree on a common agenda to resolve the deep crisis in the Middle East.
Netanyahu is staying at Blair House, just a few meters from the Oval Office, and before the meeting with Trump he held meetings with Marco Rubio -Secretary of State- and Steve Witkoff, United States special envoy to the Middle East.
The prime minister's two meetings with Rubio and Witkoff had no surprises: Netanyahu wants a ceasefire in Gaza, to free the 50 hostages - both alive and dead - still held by Hamas, and to destroy Iran's nuclear initiative, but his tactical view differs from Trump's initial position.
Hamas is demanding the release of the hostages in exchange for a definitive ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip. The terrorist organization also wants humanitarian aid to be returned to the United Nations.
Netanyahu rejects these three demands from Hamas, and confirmed this during the meetings he held with Rubio and Witkoff at Blair House.
Regarding Iran's atomic project, the Israeli Prime Minister rules out opening new negotiations with the ayatollahs and proposes repeating the air offensive on the Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities, if it were proven that uranium enrichment continues there.
Trump thinks differently than Netanyahu, and the dinner at the White House will be his opportunity to adjust the next steps that the United States- Israel tandem could take in the Middle East.
The Republican leader intends to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas before the end of July, and is willing to accept that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) move from northern Gaza to the south to partially satisfy one of the terrorist organization's demands.
Hamas seeks a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and Trump proposes a withdrawal that would allow Netanyahu to maintain territorial control and avoid a political crisis in his government.
The ruling coalition that supports Netanyahu as prime minister needs - no matter what - the ultra-Orthodox parties, who reject a ceasefire with the withdrawal of the Israeli army deployed in Gaza.
With Trump's proposal, that possibility would be almost resolved : there is no definitive withdrawal, and therefore, there would be no political cause that could detonate the Netanyahu government.
Trump has personal influence over Netanyahu, a political ability that will serve him tonight to convince the Israeli prime minister of the need to advance in negotiations with Hamas.
Netanyahu also rejects the ceasefire being definitive, a sine qua non condition presented by the Palestinian organization to release 10 live hostages and the bodies of 18 kidnapped people who were killed in the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu wants to nullify Hamas's military and political capabilities, and from his perspective, this would not happen if he agreed to a definitive truce in Gaza.
From the Israeli prime minister's perspective, a complete ceasefire in the Strip would allow Hamas to regroup its forces and once again endanger Israel's security.
In this context, Netanyahu will reiterate to Trump tonight that the truce must be for 60 days, pending new negotiations that will achieve the complete freedom of the hostages and ensure the definitive exile of the Hamas terrorist leadership.
Trump will have to use his negotiating skills to get Netanyahu to accept his strategy to resolve the situation in Gaza, which is plagued by war and a humanitarian crisis with millions of displaced Palestinians.
Aside from negotiations with Hamas, Trump and Netanyahu will discuss the situation with Iran, which still insists on maintaining its nuclear project.
Trump is appealing to the negotiation strategy, and that is why envoy Witkoff will travel to Oslo to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Netanyahu considers this trip a political gesture that will not have feasible results, and in exchange, proposes designing a new air offensive against Iran's nuclear facilities.
The President of the United States does not rule out this hypothesis of conflict, but first wants to wait for the results of the conclave between Witkoff and Araghchi.
