Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of slain top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman on Jan. 7, 2020. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

The so-called “Obama doctrine” in the Middle East was intended to recalibrate American influence in the region, and its key strategy seemed to be to fete and kowtow to Iran, in the belief that “respect” would moderate the murderous mullahs.

It did not. The mullahs grinned, Secretary Kerry bowed and scraped, and Iran continued to foment war with its proxies and maintain its distinction as the pre-eminent financier of global terrorism, all while crushing domestic civil dissent. That, and Barack Obama’s failure to enforce his infamous “red line” threat against Syria for attacking its own citizens with chemical weapons in 2013, destroyed American credibility among its traditional Middle Eastern allies.

Trump, on the other hand, gets stuff done. Syria deploys chemical weapons? He responds militarily. Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, mastermind of Iranian attacks on Jews and Americans around the world, becomes careless with his comings and goings? He is taken out in a clean drone strike. The Middle East is a very tough neighbourhood, one where “progressive” platitudes and gender equality are not high on the issues matrix. Trump is seen as a decisive, effective leader. Furthermore, his administration understands and supports the paramount regional concern: Iranian hegemony and militarism.

Trump’s “deal of the century” is a starting point, not an ending. It articulates baseline principles to be adhered to in direct negotiations between the parties — the Israelis and Palestinians. Seventy years after the founding of the state of Israel, it should not be wildly controversial for the Palestinian leadership to accept and recognize the existence and legitimacy of the Jewish state. Yet, they choke on it. They refuse. And that is because the Palestinian negotiating position has always been predicated on a commitment to the destruction of Israel.

This core doctrine of hatred and rejection is stated in the political constitutions of both Fatah (the ruling party in the West Bank) and Hamas. In spite of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s repeated pledges to amend the Fatah charter, first promised during the Oslo negotiations, he never got around to keeping his word. Nor has Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the “moderate” who is now in the 15th year of a four-year presidential term.