Trump declares Palestine ready for peace talks
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PRESIDENT Donald Trump called for peace between Israel and Palestine, and asked both sides to put aside the “pain and disagreements of the past.”
Trump met with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during his quick stop tour of the region yesterday. Speaking at the Israel Museum, he declared both sides were ready to move forward, though there were no tangible signs of the dormant peace process being revived.
“Palestinians are ready to reach for peace,” Trump said. “Benjamin Netanyahu wants peace.”
Trump has cast Middle East peace as the “ultimate deal” and has tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner and former real estate lawyer Jason Greenblatt with charting a way forward.
The president avoided all of the thorny issues that have hindered peace efforts for decades. The Israeli settlements, status of Jerusalem or whether the US would continue to insist on a two-state solution giving the Palestinians sovereign territory were not discussed.
Aides said the approach was purposeful, and Trump was well-aware of the risks of veering off script.
Trump and Netanyahu, in particular, lavished praise on each other during their multiple meetings. The prime minister leapt to his feet when the president said his administration “will always stand with Israel.”
Yet some Israeli officials are less certain of Trump. He’s taken a tougher line on settlements, saying he doesn’t believe they help the peace process, though he’s stopped short of calling for a full construction freeze. He’s also backed away from his campaign pledge to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
At the same time, Abbas and the Palestinians were surprised by Trump. The US president met with Abbas in the biblical city of Bethlehem, which serves as a visual relic of the complexities of the region’s conflict.
Abbas was keen to “keep the door open to dialogue with our Israeli neighbors.” He reiterated the Palestinians’ demands, including establishing a capital in East Jerusalem, territory Israel claims as well, insisting that “our problem is not with the Jewish religion, it’s with the occupation and settlements, and with Israel not recognizing the state of Palestine.”
After his meeting with Abbas, Trump returned to Jerusalem to pay tribute to the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. On a visit to the Yad Vashem memorial, the president and first lady Melania Trump laid a wreath on a stone slab under which ashes of those killed in concentration camps are buried. They were joined by Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, as well as daughter Ivanka Trump and Kushner.
Trump also toured the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which by Christian tradition is where Jesus was crucified and the location of his tomb. Wearing a black skullcap, he became the first sitting president to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, the most holy site at which Jews can pray.
The visit raised questions whether the US would say the site is Israeli territory. The US has never recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Old City seized in the 1967 war.
The White House did not answer the question. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley declared the site part of Israel, while US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson dodged the question on Monday. Trump himself never commented.
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