MIDDLE EAST POLICY OF U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: FEATURES, CHALLENGES, CONSEQUENCES

The purpose of the article is a comprehensive analysis of the foreign policy course of U.S. President D. Trump during his second term in the Middle East region. It examines the features of the political style and approaches of the newly elected U.S. President’s regarding priority tasks in such key tracks (areas) as the Arab–Israeli conflict, the situation in the Gaza Strip and methods for resolving it, and the Iranian nuclear program. The methodological basis of the study includes a set of general and special methods, in particular, systemic and comparative analysis, methods of critical analysis of sources and comparative evaluation. The scientific novelty lies in the systematic analysis of the first steps of the new administration of U.S. President D. Trump in the context of the forming its global paradigm «America Returns» in accordance with the realities of the Middle East. This study introduces a significant number of recent American, Israeli and Arab sources into academic circulation. The author concludes that President Trump’s key initiatives on Middle Eastern issues – primarily his intention to take long-term control over the Gaza Strip and to relocate the entire Palestinian population – may undermine the process of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and are doomed to failure due to their rejection by the Arab world and European countries.