Trump says separate states not needed in Mideast deal

WASHINGTON - Mr. Trump said the United States would no longer insist on a Palestinian state as part of a peace accord, backing away from a policy that has underpinned America’s role in Middle East peacemaking since the Clinton administration.

“I’m looking at two states and one state,” Mr. Trump said, appearing in a joint news conference at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. “I like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one.”

President Trump vowed to start immediately negotiating a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, and said he does not care whether the two sides agree to create separate states. He spoke at a joint White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump has suggested he is open to the idea of a one-state, rather than two-state, solution to the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Asked in a media conference with Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday whether the US would continue its policy of support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, Mr Trump said: “I’m looking at two-state and at one-state, and I like the one that both parties like... I can live with either one.”

“I thought the two-state [solution] looked easier for a while,” he added, before reaffirming he would let Israeli and Palestinian negotiators take the lead on the issue.

It is a marked change from US policy since Bill Clinton’s tenure which, alongside the UN, EU, Arab League and others, has been to promote the idea of a peace deal involving a Palestinian state.

Speaking alongside Mr Trump, Mr Netanyahu said that rather than deal with “labels” he would like to work on “substance” in making peace with the Palestinians.

Mr Trump also said that both sides would have to be prepared to make “compromises” for a lasting peace deal.

“I would like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit,” Mr Trump told the prime minister.

The Israeli government recently announced more than 11,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, as well as the retroactive legalisation of 4,000 "outpost"Jewish homes built on private Palestinian land. The bold moves are believed to have been encouraged by Mr Trump's unexpected election victory. 

Mr Trump said that there was an “unbreakable bond” between the two countries, calling Israel a “cherished ally”.

He is widely viewed in Israel, and the wider Middle East, as far more sympathetic to Israeli interests, including the contentious issue of settlement building, than his predecessor Barack Obama.

His son-in-law Jarred Kushner has special relations with Bibi on various fronts.

Trump was also noncommittal about his campaign pledge to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – to which he had previously referred as Israel’s “undivided” capital. The city is contested by the two parties, who both claim it as their capital.

Palestinians have reacted with fear and anger to the suggestion that the US may be ready to break with decades of Middle Eastern peace process policy.

“If the Trump administration rejects [a two-state solution] it would be destroying the chances for peace and undermining American interests, standing and credibility abroad,” Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu and Trump are old friends and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has close links to Israel, a fact which was reiterated during the Israeli Prime Minister's visit to Washington.

The Palestinians are highly unlikely to accept anything short of a sovereign state, and a single Israeli state encompassing the Palestinians would either leave them as second-class citizens or would no longer be majority Jewish, given the growth rate of the Arab population. - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/ 16 February 2017 - - -