ZCZC
BFF-09
UN-DIPLOMACY-US-ISRAEL
Trump pledges Mideast peace plan within months
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald
Trump vowed Wednesday to present a “very fair” Middle East peace plan by the
end of the year and endorsed a two-state solution, apparently confident that
the Palestinians would return to talks despite his unwavering support for
Israel.
Holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York,
Trump said it was a “dream” of his to bring about a peaceful solution to a
conflict that has eluded several of his predecessors.
While Trump said he expected Israel to make concessions in any final
settlement of the decades-old conflict, the Palestinians said his
administration’s policies in the Middle East were destroying hopes of peace.
Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law as well as a senior advisor in
the White House, has been working on a peace plan for more than a year, but
there have been few clues to date on what he is expected to propose.
“I would say over the next two to three to four months,” Trump said,
referring to his prospective timetable for presenting a plan.
Trump, who met with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly,
said explicitly for the first time that he backed a two-state solution,
saying: “That’s what I think works best, that’s my feeling.”
“I really believe something will happen. It is a dream of mine to be able
to get that done prior to the end of my first term,” added Trump, who was
elected to serve four years through January 2021.
“Jared, who’s so involved, he loves Israel but he’s also going to be very
fair with the Palestinians,” the US president later told a news conference.
“I think probably two-state is more likely but if they do a single, if
they do a double, I’m okay with it if they’re both happy. If they’re both
happy, I’m okay with either. I think the two-state is more likely,” he said.
– Palestinians skeptical –
Middle East peace efforts effectively stalled when the Palestinians broke
off contacts with the Trump administration last year in protest at Trump’s
landmark decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Palestinian foreign affairs minister Riyad al-Maliki was unimpressed with
Trump’s remarks, saying the US president chose his tone because he was
appearing with Netanyahu.
MORE/FI/ 0906 hrs
ZCZC
BFF-10
UN-DIPLOMACY-US-ISRAEL-2-LAST
Maliki — speaking after meeting in New York with representatives from 40
countries but not Kushner or other US officials — said Trump needed to state
clearly that a two-state solution would include a return to borders from
before the 1967 Six-Day War and that east Jerusalem is occupied rather than
part of Israel.
“These are important statements that President Trump has to say in order
just to convince anyone that he is committed to real peace in our region,”
Maliki told reporters.
Maliki said that the Palestinians met more than 40 times with Trump’s
envoys only “to discover that they have opted to open that war against the
Palestinians to inflict the most damage.”
Relations between the Palestinian Authority and the United States
plummeted even lower in recent weeks after Washington cut off all funding to
a UN agency that helps millions of Palestinian refugees, triggering a budget
panic.
Trump said, however, that he was in no doubt that the Palestinians would
soon return to the negotiating table. “Absolutely, 100 percent,” he said.
“Lots of good things are happening,” said Trump, before adding: “Israel
will have to do something that will be good for the other side.”
– ‘Security control’ – Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying that
Israel must retain security control in any peace deal with the Palestinians
west of Jordan to the Mediterranean — which includes the occupied West Bank.
“Israel will not relinquish security control west of Jordan. This will not
happen so long as I am prime minister and I think the Americans understand
that,” he reportedly said.
Several of Trump’s predecessors have played leading roles in trying to
bring an end to the conflict, including Jimmy Carter, who brokered the 1978
Camp David agreement, which saw Egypt formally recognize Israel.
Bill Clinton oversaw the Oslo peace accords in 1993 which spelled out the
aim of a two-state solution and allowed for the creation of the Palestinian
Authority which is meant to rule over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But it left issues such as the borders and status of Jerusalem unresolved.
Egypt and Jordan are still the only Arab nations that formally recognize
Israel.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0908 hrs