Nobody expects consistency from Donald Trump, nor the Trump administration, dominated as it is by capricious personalities, but America’s latest diplomatic moves in Middle Eastern policy are especially bewildering.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has latterly become a target for US sanctions, for which it is hardly the most deserving of candidates. It is not Hamas, for example – far from it, in fact: the terrorist organisation is a bitter rival, having effectively ceded Gaza from PA control many years ago. In contrast to so many other entities in the region, it has renounced violence and has even recognised the state of Israel.
