By Ted Belman
The significance of this is that the two state solution has been dislodged from its exclusive hold on the discourse. That’s huge. But its not bold enough.
Trump said that an agreement must be reached by the Israelis and the Palestinians. They will never agree. He should have opened the door to have Jordan replace the Palestinians or at least be in the talks.
Israel will not agree to a one state solution in which the Arabs are full citizens and the Arabs won’t agree if they aren’t.
Israel will not agree to a two state solution based on the ’67 lines plus swaps. Israel will insist on full security control. This severely limits the sovereignty of Palestine and the Arabs won’t agree to it.
Involving the Arab countries in achieving a solution ignores the fact that they have given no indication of yielding in any significant way. They are as intransigent as the Palestinians are.
DEBKAfile reports that these sentiments reflected agreement in principle between Trump and Netanyahu to seek an Israeli peace accord with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates as the lead-in to negotiations for an accord with the Palestinians. Egypt, Jordan and Turkey with whom Israel already has normal relations would jump in later. This deal fits in with the US plan reported more than once on these pages for a regional peace between the Sunni Arab nations and the Jewish State.
What he should have done is to wash his hands of the whole thing. He should have enabled Israel to build where it wants and and to say that the settlements are not illegal. He says that he trusts Israel to look for peace. Why not trust Israel to decide whether or not to build. Why interfere.
Secondly only building will put real pressure on the Palestinians to compromise.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday held a press briefing following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he revealed that he asked Trump to fully recognize Israel’s presence in Golan Heights as part of the State of Israel.
He noted that Trump did not rule out the possibility and was not surprised by the request.
There will be no limitations on Jewish building in Jerusalem over the pre-1967 lines, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday after his meeting with US President Donald Trump, but added that he had a more cautious approach to West Bank settlement construction.
“Building will continue in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu told reporters during a briefing at Blair House, noting however that when it came to Area C of the West Bank where all the Israeli settlements are located, there was a question of how to move forward in the future.
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