Trump is coming to Palestine. Ever since the announcement of the American president’s upcoming visit to the region May 20-23, top Palestinian Authority (PA) officials keep repeating these few words to themselves in disbelief. Their wonderment is not simply at another visit by a US president to PA territory, but also at the diplomatic victory achieved by their proper preparations, admirable diplomatic sophistication and, especially, hard work.
While the Israeli right wing was celebrating Donald Trump’s election as heralding the arrival of the Messiah and starting to draw up plans for annexing most of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and accelerating construction in the Israeli settlements there, the Palestinians were busy brainstorming. They sought to decipher the Trump code and recorded achievements far exceeding expectations.