Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, landed in Israel Wednesday afternoon and held meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt as well as US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman sat in on the meetings, along with Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Yoav Horowitz, and Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer.

It emerged this week that the Palestinian Authority sent a letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) several months ago asking it to protect the Old City of Hebron, home of the Tomb of the (Biblical) Patriarchs and the Cave of Machpela,  which Islam refers to as the Ibrahimi Mosque from what the PA described as Israeli “aggression” against the site by placing it on an official list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian parliamentarian, told The Jerusalem Post this week that the Kremlin is seeking deeper security and intelligence cooperation with Israel as it continues military operations in neighboring Syria. In particular, Moscow would like Israel to use whatever back-channel connections it might have with rebel groups battling the regime of President Bashar Assad to enter into negotiations to end the conflict.

In a sign of improved relations between Egypt and the Islamist terror militia Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, a shipment of fuel sent by the regime in Cairo arrived at the Strip’s sole functioning power plant Wednesday to alleviate the ongoing power shortages which began when the Palestinian Authority decided to cut the amount of Israeli-supplied electricity that it would pay for in an effort to put pressure on Hamas. The one million liters of diesel will more than double the amount of electricity available to Gaza residents for the next few days, while it is hoped more regular supplies will soon arrive.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is currently serving a 27-month sentence at Ma’asiyahu Prison in Ramle for various charges related to corrupt business deals he participated in when he was mayor of Jerusalem, has been hospitalized at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. His doctors told the media that he was suffering from chest pains and would require several days at the hospital.

Regrettably, if the Trump administration cannot do more to counter Iran’s actions in Syria, it is not likely to be able to “demolish” ISIS and prevent its return. Iran is using its Shia proxy militias both to fight ISIS and to challenge U.S. efforts to train local forces in southeastern Syria.Iran is actively trying to create a land corridor through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon.

As US President Donald Trump Trump replaces former President Obama’s misconceived policy of strategic patience with proactive strategic savvy, the question of US future policies remains open. Seeking answers requires a fundamental reexamination of Washington’s 21st century Middle East wars, where at every turn Russian-American relations formed the hidden context.