Biden’s surprising Middle East peace strategy: Working with Trump

Instead of slamming a White House-brokered Lebanon cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah announced Tuesday, Trump and his advisers have stayed largely quiet about the diplomatic breakthrough, while Biden administration officials shift their focus to a cease-fire in Gaza, a much tougher task.

It is a rare sign of tacit agreement with President Biden’s approach that could produce mutual benefits: for Biden, a legacy-defining foreign-policy win before he departs in January; for Trump, one less global crisis that he will have to handle.

But the temporary alignment could also quickly fracture.

U.S. officials concede that Hamas militants haven’t shown signs that they are ready for a Gaza cease-fire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long shown a preference for Trump, could choose to wait out the Democrat’s presidency in hopes the new administration will give him even more latitude to continue the war against Hamas.

“I’m skeptical that there will be a cease-fire deal in Gaza regardless of the coordination happening with the Trump transition team," because Netanyahu is reluctant to commit to a permanent halt in the fighting, said Michael Hanna, a Middle East expert at the International Crisis Group.

Even if Netanyahu did want to move forward now, “Netanyahu’s coalition partners don’t want a deal, and Hamas doesn’t want a deal," said Steven Cook, a senior fellow for the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations.

If Biden manages to achieve an agreement between Israel and Hamas in coming weeks, Trump could claim credit for making it possible, as Mike Waltz, the president-elect’s choice for national security adviser, did Tuesday about the Lebanon cease-fire. “Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump," he posted to X.

Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, a close Netanyahu confidant, briefed Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida earlier this month on the Lebanon talks. Trump, according to Israeli officials, signed off on the plan and expressed hope that a deal would get done before he entered the Oval Office on Jan. 20. Trump and Netanyahu have spoken at least three times since the Republican’s election victory earlier this month.

A spokeswoman for Trump’s transition declined to comment on private conversations he and his team have had about Middle East diplomacy.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Wednesday that he had kept Waltz “apprised at every step" during the negotiations on the Israel-Hezbollah agreement. Biden envoy Amos Hochstein added that he had spoken with Waltz and other members of Trump’s team about the agreement to ensure “we get a seamless transition."

A senior Biden administration official said that Trump aides agreed that completing the Lebanon cease-fire was good for Israel, Lebanon and for the U.S. “Most important, doing it now versus later will save countless lives on both sides," the official said, referring to the Trump advisers view of the deal.

Trump has previously sent mixed signals about his timetable for ending the war in Gaza. “I want him to finish up and get it done quickly," he said of Netanyahu in July. In October, Trump expressed support for Israel’s offensives against Hamas and Hezbollah, telling Netanyahu in one call: “Do what you have to do."

Since winning the election, Trump appears to have come to recognize the benefit of winding down the Gaza crisis before his inauguration—just like Biden. But it won’t be easy.

A flurry of diplomatic activity is already under way, Egyptian and Arab mediators said. An Egyptian negotiating team is in Tel Aviv for talks, while Qatar’s prime minister is in Cairo also pushing for a deal.

Egyptian officials have been in touch with Trump’s team, gauging if he could convince Israel to compromise some of its key sticking points, namely its desire for a “buffer zone" between Israel and Gaza. Meanwhile, Cairo has let Hamas know that it is isolated, especially after Hezbollah struck the cease-fire deal with Israel, and that its demands for a full Israeli military withdrawal from the enclave are unlikely to be accepted by Netanyahu.

Brett McGurk, the White House’s top Middle East official, met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday about the Lebanon deal, a Gaza cease-fire and the prospects of seeing the nearly 100 hostages held by Hamas released from captivity.

“The U.S. will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza with the hostages released and the end to the war without Hamas in power," Biden said Tuesday.

Biden and Trump are in agreement on integrating Israel further into the Middle East by brokering a deal that would normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel in exchange for U.S.-provided security guarantees to Riyadh.

Biden hasn’t given up hope of completing such an agreement before leaving office, but Trump may be hoping to save that prize for himself.

Summer Said contributed to this article.

Write to Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com