A surprising disagreement seems to be emerging between the United States and Israel over the interpretation of the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement. Israel reacted in an almost-Pavlovian way, halting most of its contacts with the Palestinian Authority government, except for urgent security and humanitarian issues. The United States, on the other hand, both on the level of the White House and the level of the State Department, continued its ongoing dialogue with Ramallah. US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt is leading these contacts together with US Ambassador in Tel Aviv David Friedman and the US consul general team in Jerusalem. The motto of the US administration seems to be “give the reconciliation agreement a chance.”

According to a senior US diplomat, the administration conveyed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that it will not intervene against the new Palestinian agreement and that it demands the disarming of Hamas, yet not overnight. The US diplomat does not rule out that once the dust has settled between the two rival Palestinian factions, Washington might outline guidelines for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians (without Hamas being included).

US Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit the region in December to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The vice president is considered a foreign policy hawk, but with the virtual elimination of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from regional peace efforts, this visit could turn into a significant one.

In the meantime, Greenblatt is carrying out the president’s instructions to keep the hope for peace negotiations alive. According to the American source, the US administration goal is to keep on one side a very pro-Israel line, and on the other to advance rapprochement with Egypt (and Saudi Arabia) as a counterbalance to Iran. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is scheduled to visit Riyadh again in the coming days.