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“I firmly believe that there is a real path towards peace,” he emphasized. “Much has changed since my first trip to the region in 1983. At that time, the prevailing interest of the Arab world, with the exception of Egypt, was the rejection of Israel, including calls for its destruction and the very real possibility of war.”
Greenblatt noted that today, the atmosphere has changed: “Confronted with an emboldened and aggressive Iran and populations eager for economic opportunity, many leaders understand that Israel is not the problem, and in fact Israel can be part of the solution.”
“US President Donald Trump has brought a fresh set of eyes, and energy, to the task of peacemaking. It is clear that President Trump’s actions and language have changed expectations about what is possible. He has revitalized the discussion and language of peace in the region.”
Greenblatt emphasized that the Trump administration is not looking to force a solution on Israel.
“I want to take this opportunity to cut through the noise,” he said. “Our approach is rooted in the belief that instead of working to impose a solution from the outside, we must give the parties space to make their own decisions about their future. Our approach is also guided by the belief that instead of laying the blame for the conflict at the feet of one party or the other, we must focus on unlocking new areas of cooperation that benefit both Israelis and Palestinians.”
“To this end, the President has made clear that he will support whatever the two sides can agree to. We will not impose a deal on either party. But we know that the desire for peace is real, it is powerful, and it must be harnessed.
“When President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he was not rewriting history. He was recognizing reality…. We deeply believe that recognizing this reality was an important step not just for Israel but to laying the groundwork for a comprehensive, enduring, and real peace. That’s why the President took great care to explain what his decision does and does not mean.
“Peace will not be achieved by denying Judaism’s thousands of years of connection to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Peace will not be achieved by walking away from negotiations. Peace only has a chance of success through respectful, continuous dialogue, and through negotiations.”
Emphasizing that walking away from the negotiating table would harm Palestinian Authority Arabs, Greenblatt acknowledged that the road would not be smooth.
“We must be prepared for it to be filled with bumps and disappointments, and as with most complex issues, we will have our good days and our bad days, our good weeks and our bad weeks,” he said.
“As Vice President Mike Pence said in Jerusalem last week, ‘We know Israelis want peace and we know that Israelis need no lectures on the price of war. The people of Israel know the terrible price all too well.’
“America has always been here with you in advancing the way along a negotiated path. That’s been true in the past, it is true in the present, and it will be true in the future.”
Israel must take advantage of the friend in the White House by building and actually passing the proposed legislation to apply Israeli Civil Law to all Jewish Towns in Judea/Samaria.
This will clearly signal to all we are not retreating and will allow building in the Jewish Towns done just like elsewhere in Israel. Well hopefully better as the bureaucracy of building is horrible.
By making cuts in Arab payments is he not in a way imposing something on the Arabs….? Only by justifying the cuts as having been invalid from the beginning, and righting the imbalance of throwing away money to those who have no right to it, can he avoid the implication that he is imposing pressure on the Arabs to negotiate. And if they are being forced to negotiate, as I believe they are, then Israel will also be forced to negotiate with them. However, there is no pressure to come to any agreement………So Far……!! But I’m afraid that this will arrive and will be unwelcome. It may satisfy Netanyahu’s “red lines” but will totally antagonise the large Sovereignty Movement, and those who want all Arabs pushed or induced to leave the country.
Personally, and very much so, I am against negotiation between them as it can only end up in Israel having to legally and irrevocably give away part of the precious but tiny Land that we already have, especially when the Arabs already were given the vast majority of the Jewish Land long ago, present day Jordan.
If we have to have Arabs in Israel, and at the moment it looks as if we must, they should have no national voting, or sovereign rights. Being citizens of another country already is sufficient reason for this. Any voting rights should be local only, and always with a view to encouraging them to leave. Such an incompatible people cannot live with Jews even on temporary basis, Oil has transformed them from fatalistic downtrodden fellahin, and local sheiks, to masters of the universe, which cannot be reversed.