U.S. Says Two-State Solution Isn't Condition for Mideast Peace

EghtesadOnline: President Donald Trump won’t center his Israel-Palestinian policy goals around achieving a two-state solution to the conflict, a senior White House official said Tuesday, signaling a shift from a long-standing U.S. position that has confounded peace talks for decades.

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15 February 2017

Briefing reporters ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Wednesday visit to the White House, the official said the president believes that whether peace comes in the form of Palestinian statehood is something both sides must agree to. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the meeting, said it’s Trump’s view that it’s not for the U.S. to impose its vision for the terms of a peace deal. The official also said that a two-state solution without peace is not worthwhile.

According to Bloomberg, Netanyahu is trying to recalibrate ties with Israel’s top ally after eight years of high-profile clashes with former President Barack Obama. He sees a chance for a warmer relationship with Trump, who shares his alarm over the Iran nuclear deal and Islamic extremists.

Trump’s position that peace isn’t dependent upon creating two separate nations in the Holy Land could provide political cover to Netanyahu, who faces challenges from his country’s right wing. It also could be seen as a seismic shift in U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It is certainly a big deal politically in the sense it’s one of the strongest ways the Trump administration can communicate it is reversing the attitude of the Obama administration, which was zealously committed to the mantra of the two-state solution," said Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union. "It communicates to the Palestinians, UN, Europeans and others that there is radically different thinking going on this front, and assumptions around negotiations made in the past aren’t in place now."

Trump and Netanyahu are to hold a news conference at noon in Washington at the White House ahead of private meetings to discuss a range of topics expected to include Iran, Israeli settlement expansion, a possible U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, and steps to address a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemns Israel for its approach to settlements.

The White House has sent mixed messages on Israeli settlements -- saying existing ones are not an obstacle to peace but new ones are unhelpful -- and seems in no hurry to fulfill a campaign pledge to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a measure likely to anger Palestinians and Muslims elsewhere.

"The interpretation in the world might be very nefarious," said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noting that the Republican Party showed signs of backing away from a two-state solution last year when it chose not to include language about it in its convention platform. "Trump has upended many policy orthodoxies and people may assume he genuinely is out to make a drastic change."