WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump broke with his last three predecessors Wednesday by forgoing the US commitment to a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, he offered a regional approach to negotiating peace and achieving what he called a “great deal.”
Trump, ahead of his first official meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, veered away in a joint press conference at the White House from the long-established US commitment to a two-state solution. “I’m looking at two states and one state,” Trump said, adding: “I like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one.”
But that divergence could be designed to meet Netanyahu’s two conditions for any peace deal, which he stated at the press conference as recognition by the Palestinians of Israel as a Jewish state, and security guarantees and full Israeli control in the Jordan Valley.
Trump stuck, however, with previous US parameters such as a hold on settlement expansion. “I’d like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit,” he told Netanyahu.
Trump backtracked on a commitment to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and called on Israel to “show some flexibilty... to show they really want to make a deal.” He called on the Palestinian leadership “to get rid of some of the hate that they’re taught from a very young age.”
Beyond those prerequisites, Trump focused on a regional umbrella for peacemaking, saying: “I also believe that we’re going to have other players at a very high level, and I think it might make it easier on Palestinians and others.”
Trump, in typical fashion, boasted about the “big deal” he can achieve. “The United States will encourage a peace, and really a great peace deal. We’ll be working on it very diligently... but it is the parties themselves who must directly negotiate such an agreement.”
Netanyahu showered Trump with praise, declaring: “There is no greater friend than Donald Trump to the State of Israel.” He touted Trump’s hardline policies on counterterrorism and curbing Iran’s influence.
“Under your leadership, I believe we can reverse the rising tide of radical Islam... rolling back radical Islam, we can seize an historic opportunity because for the first time in my lifetime and for the first time in the life of my country, Arab countries in the region do not see Israel as an enemy.”
US observers who dealt with the peace process had different reactions to the Trump-Netanyahu remarks. Martin Indyk, a former US envoy to the peace process, tweeted: “Trump is treating the Palestinians like China: put Taiwan on table; take the Palestinian state off the table? If so it won’t work. The Chinese are too strong; the Palestinians are too weak.”
Robert Danin noted that “the Trump-Netanyahu press conference precedes their meeting,” which “suggests their comments have been tightly coordinated in advance.”
While it is too early to tell if the new Trump approach will work, or if it will be another failed US attempt to make peace in the Middle East, there will be “a lot of love, a lot of love” for Israel from his administration, he quipped.
Trump wants Israel to hold back on settlements ‘for a little bit’
Trump wants Israel to hold back on settlements ‘for a little bit’
Hundreds flee to government-held areas in north Syria ahead of possible offensive
- Many of the civilians who fled used side roads to reach government-held areas
- Men, women and children arrived in cars and pickup trucks that were packed with bags of clothes
DEIR HAFER, Syria: Scores of people carrying their belongings arrived in government-held areas in northern Syria on Friday ahead a possible attack by Syrian troops on territory held by Kurdish-led fighters east of the city of Aleppo.
Many of the civilians who fled used side roads to reach government-held areas because the main highway was blocked with barriers at a checkpoint that previously was controlled by the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Associated Press journalists observed.
The Syrian army said late Wednesday that civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday. The announcement appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo.
There were limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.
Men, women and children arrived in cars and pickup trucks that were packed with bags of clothes, mattresses and other belongings. They were met by local officials who directed them to shelters.
In other areas, people crossed canals on small boats and crossed a heavily damaged pedestrian bridge to reach the side held by government forces.
The SDF closed the main highway but about 4,000 people were still able to reach government-held areas on other roads, Syrian state TV reported.
A US military convoy arrived in Deir Hafer in the early afternoon but it was not immediately clear whether those personnel will remain. The US has good relations with both sides and has urged calm.
Inside Deir Hafer, many shops were closed and people stayed home.
“When I saw people leaving I came here,” said Umm Talal, who arrived in the government-held area with her husband and children. She added that the road appeared safe and her husband plans to return to their home.
Abu Mohammed said he came from the town of Maskana after hearing the government had opened a safe corridor, “only to be surprised when we arrived at Deir Hafer and found it closed.”
SDF fighters were preventing people from crossing through Syria’s main east-west highway and forcing them to take a side road, he said.
The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo, previously Syria’s largest city and commercial center, that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from three neighborhoods north of the city that were then taken over by government forces.
The fighting broke out as negotiations stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached in March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.
The US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, posted on X Friday that Washington remains in close contact with all parties in Syria, “working around the clock to lower the temperature, prevent escalation, and return to integration talks between the Syrian government and the SDF.”
The SDF for years has been the main US partner in Syria in fighting against the Daesh group, but Turkiye considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkiye.
