Republican Donald Trump’s shocking victory over his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential election could make outgoing President Barack Obama feel “less encumbered” about launching an end-of-term lame-duck Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic initiative, a Middle East expert told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.

Jonathan Schanzer — vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank in Washington, DC — emphasized, however, that it was still unclear what, if anything, Obama would do in the Israeli-Palestinian realm before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“We know that the president has been weighing options,” Schanzer said in an interview with The Algemeiner. “We’re not aware of any plans that he has to act on any of the menu items that have been presented to him. At the end of the day, we simply don’t know what he is thinking. We don’t know whether he is close or if he’s already made these decisions.” CONTINUE


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