During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since the start of US President Donald Trump's second term, thorny questions regarding the future of regional security in the Middle East loomed large.

From the latest Israel-Hamas ceasefire effort to hammering out a "day-after" plan for Gaza,  to what's next onIran, and finally normalizing relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours, the two leaders sought to project alignment and mutual admiration—with Netanyahu even announcing that he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"He's forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other," Netanyahu said of Trump.

"Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful," Trump responded.

At the dinner meeting attended by the two leaders, it was unclear how much progress had been made on the issues on the table. However, announcements could still be forthcoming during Netanyahu's four-day visit.

A victory lap for Trump and Netanyahu

Some analysts, however, are skeptical, viewing the meeting as more of a celebratory exercise for the two leaders following the strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.

 

"In a lot of the things that they stated publicly, particularly related to the Gazaceasefire, it seemed more like a public relations event rather than something where they were announcing big news. Because clearly, they're not close to a ceasefire yet in Gaza", said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

Separately, indirect talks between Israeli and Hamas delegates are ongoing in Doha, Qatar, facilitated by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Details on the ceasefire proposal have emerged in recent days, with conditions including a 60-day duration and the return of hostages, where Hamas would hand over 10 living and 18 dead hostages.

At the same time, Israel would release an as-of-yet unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. In addition, Israeli forces would fall back to a buffer zone along Gaza's borders.

The proposal also stipulates that talks towards ending the war should commence on the first day of the ceasefire.

For his part, Trump denied there was any hold-up to obtaining a ceasefire, saying "things are going along very well", but offered no details.

The two-state solution sticking point

The US president redirected questions to Netanyahu regardingthe potential for a two-state solution—a prerequisite for key players in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, to agree to normalized relations with Israel. Trump has made Israel-Saudi relations a core objective of his foreign policy in the region.

However, Netanyahu used the occasion to express his resistance to a Palestinian state.

"I think the Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us. That means a sovereign power, like overall security, will always remain in our hands," said Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's governing coalition includes far-right partners ideologically opposed to Palestinian sovereignty. How he balances his own domestic goals of preserving power while appearing open to Trump's peace ambitions in the Middle East remains a high-wire act for the Israeli leader.

"Netanyahu has successfully prevented the creation of a self-governing Palestinian entity for his entire political life and I doubt he will change now," said Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington. "He is presumably looking for some way to placate Trump but any concessions will be minimal."

She added: "His main interest is keeping Trump from reaching any sort of diplomatic accord with Iran".

Iran: What happens next?

Netanyahu and Trump may not share the same vision of the way forward on Iran, as Trump wants to communicate a clear victory at having weakened Iran without dragging the US into a drawn-out conflict. In contrast, Netanyahu views Iran as a long-term existential threat.

"The leader in Israel would love to see more military operations against Iran to continue degrading the capacity of the Iranian government's ability to rule and take out some additional sites that may have not been taken care of in the initial strikes," said Katulis. "I think Trump is not terribly interested in that."

At the meeting, Trump hinted at upcoming talks with Iran but would not say when they would take place, and cast doubt on the need for future strikes.

"I hope we're not going to have to do that. I can't imagine wanting to do that. I can't imagine them wanting to do (it.) They want to meet. They want to work something out. They're very different now than they were two weeks ago," he said.

Netanyahu emphasized vigilance. "When you remove a tumor, it doesn't mean that it can't come back. You have to constantly monitor the situation to make sure that there's no attempt to bring it back," said Netanyahu. "So we've had a great achievement. Part of the effort of consolidating this and ensuring that we don't have to repeat this is to monitor this carefully".

As the two leaders publicly celebrated their military success and lauded each other's contributions toward peace,  the most complex discussions on Gaza, Iran, and the two-state solution are happening behind closed doors.

"Unless they have big news coming out of Doha, or unless Tehran and the regime in Tehran actually shifts its position in a big way on the nuclear issue or other things, I don't see a major policy outcome as yet," said Katulis. "That will only come from the hard work of diplomacy."

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu