White House Official: Trump's Support for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Even Without a 'Two-State Solution'

On the eve of the Israeli Prime Minister's meeting with the U.S. President, a White House official told Reuters that Donald Trump supports the ultimate goal of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, even if the solution of creating two independent states is not feasible. These statements were made on February 15, one day before the meeting between Mr. Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House official stated, 'Peace is the ultimate goal, whether in the form of creating two independent states (Israel and Palestine) if that is what the parties want, or in another form.' The two-state solution has been pursued in previous U.S. administrations. In recent days, prior to Netanyahu's visit to the United States, some members of Israel's right-wing parties had urged their Prime Minister to push for the advancement of settlements during his meeting with the U.S. President, while also warning him not to even use the phrase 'independent Palestinian state.' Palestine has not been established as an independent country, although some countries have changed the political offices of Palestine to 'embassies' and UNESCO has accepted it as a 'full member.' This action has faced criticism from Israel, which claims it harms the peace process and negotiations between the parties. Donald Trump had previously asked the Israeli government in an interview with an Israeli newspaper to be 'reasonable' regarding the peace process. He had expressed his administration's position that the construction of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories is not viewed as a positive action. Netanyahu also stated before his trip to Washington that Trump has not given Israel a 'blank check' for anything it wants to do regarding settlements. After winning the U.S. presidential election, while still the President-elect, Trump reacted to the passing of a resolution against settlements at the United Nations by stating that this resolution makes peace between Israel and the Palestinians and negotiations between the two sides 'much harder.' The resolution was passed in December while the Obama administration, in an unprecedented move by a U.S. government, did not veto the text presented to the Security Council. The Israeli Prime Minister is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump on Wednesday, U.S. time. In addition to the topic of 'peace' and issues concerning Israel and the Palestinians, the issue of Iran is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion between the two leaders.