Trump’s message of peace and partnership in the Middle East
Yesterday he urged Islamic leaders to drive out extremism, today he’ll push for peace.
Donald Trump yesterday left Saudi Arabia after addressing leaders from about 50 Muslim-majority countries representing more than a billion people. Today he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and then travels to the West Bank to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
But while he has declared in the past that finding a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is “maybe not as difficult as people have thought”, Trump arrives in Israel with few concrete ideas of solving a problem that has vexed presidents for decades.
Fresh off two days in Saudi Arabia where he signed Billion-dollar arms deals, the United States President was
to travel to Jerusalem today. He also plans to visit the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and the Western Wall, an important key Jewish holy site.
While hosting Abbas at the White House in March, Trump boldly stated that achieving peace is “something that I think is, frankly, maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years”. “But we need two willing parties,” he continued. “We believe Israel is willing. We believe you’re willing. And if you both are willing, we’re going to make a deal.”
White House aides have tried to play down expectations for significant progress on the peace process during Trump’s stop, casting it as more symbolic than substantive. Yet Trump may still need to engage in some delicate diplomacy following revelations that he disclosed highly classified intelligence Israel obtained about Isis (Islamic State) with top Russian officials, without Israel’s permission.
Israel has also expressed concern about the US$110 billion ($158.3b) arms sale to Saudi Arabia that Trump announced on Sunday in Riyadh. Yuval Steinitz, a senior Cabinet minister and Netanyahu confidant, called Saudi Arabia “a hostile country” and said the deal was “definitely something that should trouble us”.
Meanwhile, Palestinian activists are calling for a “day of rage” when Trump visits the West Bank tomorrow. The demonstrations are meant to draw attention to a month-long hunger strike by hundreds of prisoners being held by Israel and to protest what many Palestinians say is unfair US support for Israel.
Yesterday, Trump urged Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries to extinguish “Islamic extremism” emanating from the region, describing a “battle between good and evil” rather than a clash between the West and Islam.
In a departure from his predecessor, Barack Obama, Trump all but promised he would not publicly admonish Mideast rulers for human rights violations and oppressive reigns. “We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,” Trump said, speaking in an ornate room in the Saudi capital. “Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for us all.”
The President's address was the centrepiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip since his January swearing-in. For Trump, the trip is a reprieve from the crush of controversies that have marred his presidency and an attempt to reset his relationship with a region and a religion he fiercely criticised as a candidate.
During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump mused about his belief that “Islam hates us”. But yesterday, standing before dozens of regional leaders, he said Islam was “one of the world's great faiths”.
Later in the week Trump will travel to Rome and Brussels, meeting Pope Francis and Belgian officials and attending a nato summit, and to Sicily for a meeting of G7 members.