Former US Ambassador to Egypt and Israel Daniel Kurtzer shed light on the future of the Middle East under the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, noting that the president is forming a government that "will only create problems for him" in the region, and wondering if Trump is prepared to pay the price the Saudis want in exchange for normalization with Israel?

This came in an interview with Kurtzer with CNN, where he said: "As you know, we are in an extraordinary moment with a president-elect who probably has the most important mandate of almost any president in history: the popular vote, the electoral vote, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and a very significant majority on the Supreme Court."

“A skilled politician can lead in many directions, both domestically and in foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. But the president-elect seems to be forming a government that will only create more problems for him. They seem intent on undermining the way the government works. Sure, the government needs to be reformed, but if you look at the various candidates (for Trump administration positions), they are in the category of those who want to destroy rather than build,” he continued.

“So the first order of business for the president-elect today, let alone on January 20 (the official inauguration day), is to figure out what he wants to achieve. And when it comes to the Middle East, if he really wants to achieve a ceasefire and some degree of return to normalcy, he’s going to have to pay some attention to what his advisers are saying, what his spokespeople are saying, and he’s going to have to put some leverage behind American policy toward Israel and toward the Arabs who have influence over Hamas.”

“The Saudis are still very interested in an improved relationship with the United States and a relationship with Israel, which they have had a longstanding bilateral relationship with, but in secret,” the former US diplomat continued. “But the Saudis are now constrained by the fact that they will come under enormous pressure within the Arab world in general and among their own people if they normalize relations with Israel without achieving anything for the Palestinians. They have defined that as a serious and irreversible path to a Palestinian state. The president, as we know — the president-elect, as we know — has a plan on the table as of 2020 that was not acceptable to anybody, but maybe he can build on it and make it minimally acceptable to the Palestinians.” He continued: “So if you start with the idea that the Saudis want to do this and you know what the cost is, or the price, the question is, is the president-elect willing to pay that price?”