Given these trajectories, it would have been very surprising if Jerusalem was not anxious on the eve of President Trump’s visit. Whether any of these fears and their causes will surface during Trump’s forthcoming short visit is difficult to tell. But given the earlier failures to anticipate and ascertain these trajectories, it would not be surprising to find Jerusalem wondering what surprise will come next.

Shai Feldman is the Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies and is a member of the Board of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Image: Donald and Melania Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu. Flickr/The White House