Trump pushes for peace in ME
Calls on Israelis, Palestinians to make compromises, avoids thorny details
US President Donald Trump called on Israelis and Palestinians to make compromises that could lead to peace as he wrapped up a visit with a speech in Jerusalem yesterday.
"Making peace however will not be easy," Trump told an audience of Israeli politicians and other dignitaries at the Israel Museum.
"We all know that. Both sides will face tough decisions. But with determination, compromise and the belief that peace is possible, Israelis and Palestinians can make a deal."
Trump again vowed that he was "personally committed" to helping the two sides reach a deal to end the decades-old conflict.
He however offered no specifics on how he planned to make progress in resolving a conflict that has bedevilled his predecessors and with widespread scepticism over whether meaningful talks are possible for now.
He did not specifically mention the two-state solution, long the focus of international peace efforts and US Middle East diplomacy, reported AFP.
Trump's speech came after he met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank earlier in the day.
On Monday, he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. He was due to depart for Rome later yesterday.
"I had a meeting this morning with president Abbas and can tell you that the Palestinians are ready to reach for peace," Trump said.
"I know you've heard it before. I am telling you -- that's what I do -- they are ready to reach for peace. And my meeting with my very good friend Benjamin -- I can tell you also that he is reaching for peace."
Standing alongside Trump, Abbas, 82 and in the 12th year of his original five-year term, said he was determined to deliver an agreement for all Palestinians, although he did not provide any substance on how such an objective could be achieved, reported Reuters.
"I would like to reiterate our commitment to cooperate with you in order to make peace and forge an historic peace deal with the Israelis," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
"And we would like to reassert our willingness to continue to work with you as partners in fighting terrorism in our region and in the world."
While both Netanyahu and Abbas have made positive noises about their readiness to negotiate, both also face domestic constraints on their freedom to manoeuvre and strike a deal.
Netanyahu must deal with opposition from rightist elements within his coalition who oppose any steps towards a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict. Abbas's Fatah party is at sharp odds with the Islamist group Hamas, which is in power in Gaza, leaving no unified Palestinian position on peace.
NO DETAILS ON PEACE
Ahead of his visit to the Middle East, the second leg of a nine-day tour that began in Saudi Arabia and will move on to the Vatican, Italy and Belgium, administration officials indicated that Trump might talk about "Palestinian self-determination", a nod towards the ultimate objective of statehood.
But in his public remarks, Trump steered clear of any such language, and did not mention what has been the goal of US diplomacy for two decades: a state of Israel and an independent Palestinian state co-existing side-by-side.
During meetings with Netanyahu on Monday, Trump focused attention on the threat from Iran but also talked about the opportunities for peace in the region and how Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations were shifting their stance, potentially opening a window towards a regional agreement.
One of the long-standing regional proposals is a Saudi peace initiative that was first put forward in 2002 and has been re-endorsed several times since.
Husam Zumlot, a former adviser to Abbas who is now the Palestinian ambassador in Washington, said the contours of any deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians were well known to both sides. If negotiations were to resume, they needed to be about the core issues, not talks about talks, he said.