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Reuters
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump on Wednesday dropped US insistence on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a longstanding bedrock of Middle East policy, even as he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction.
In the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, the Republican president backed away from a US commitment to eventual creation of a Palestinian state, upending a position embraced by successive administrations and the international community.
"I'm looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like," Trump told a joint news conference with Netanyahu."I can live with either one." Trump vowed to work toward a peace deal between Israel and Palestinians but said it would require compromise on both sides and up to the parties themselves ultimately to reach the terms of any agreement. But he offered no new prescription for achieving an accord that has eluded so many of his predecessors.
Dropping a bombshell on Netanyahu as they faced reporters just before sitting down for talks, Trump told him:"I'd like to see you pull back on settlements for a little bit."
The right-wing Israeli leader, who may have expected more decidedly pro-Israel rhetoric, appeared startled. When given a chance to respond, he insisted that Jewish settlements were"not the core of the conflict" and made no commitment to reduce settlement building.
Trump echoed Netanyahu's calls for Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state - something they have refused to do - and to halt incitement against Israelis.
But even as Trump promised to pursue peace between the two sides - who have had no substantive peace talks since 2014 - he offered no new ideas for unblocking the peace process. Setting a chummy tone for the meeting, Trump greeted Netanyahu on a red carpet rolled out to the White House driveway. The two leaders smiled, shook hands and chatted amiably before heading inside the executive mansion, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and Netanyahu's wife Sara.
Among the questions expected to figure prominently on the agenda was the future of the two-state solution - the idea of creating a Palestine living peacefully alongside Israel.
Foreshadowing Trump's policy shift, a senior White House official said on Tuesday that peace did not necessarily have to entail Palestinian statehood, and Trump would not try to"dictate" a solution. Palestinians responded by urging Trump not to abandon their goal of statehood.
Giving a convoluted response to a question on whether he backed a two-state solution, he suggested that he could abide by whatever the two parties decided."I thought for a while it looked like the two-state, looked like it may be the easier of the two, but honestly if Bibi and if the Palestinians if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like the best," Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
Netanyahu committed, with conditions, to the two-state goal in a speech in 2009 and has broadly reiterated the aim since. But he has also spoken of a"state minus" option, suggesting he could offer the Palestinians deep-seated autonomy and the trappings of statehood without full sovereignty.
