Trump raises prospects of Mideast peace
WE HAVE A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO BRING SECURITY, STABILITY TO REGION, HE SAYS
P resident Donald Trump urged leaders in the Middle East to seize a “rare opportunity” to overcome past rifts as he began talks in Israel on the second leg of his first overseas trip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet warmly welcomed Trump on the tarmac of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.
Briefly addressing Israeli and US officials at an airport arrival ceremony, Trump said his travels in the region have given him “new reasons for hope.”
“We have before us a rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace to this region and to its people, defeating terrorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity and peace,” he said. “But we can only get there working together. There is no other way.”
He later launched another salvo against Iran. “The US and Israel can declare with one voice that Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon — never ever — and must cease its deadly funding, training and equipping of terrorists and militias,” Trump said. “And it must cease immediately.”
When meeting Netanyahu, Trump said Iran should have thanked the US for the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers because it led to the lifting of sanctions.
“Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they now feel emboldened,” Trump said.
US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel yesterday on the second leg of his first overseas trip since entering office and said he had new reasons to hope for peace and stability to the Middle East after his visit to Saudi Arabia.
He prayed at Al Buraq Wall adjacent to Al Haram Al Sharif which has been hijacked by Israel and renamed as ‘the Western Wall’ where only Jews are allowed to pray.
He is the first sitting US president to do so. Jews consider the wall the holiest site in their religion. Trump, wearing a black skullcap, paused in front of it, then placed what appeared to be a written prayer or note between its stones, as is the custom.
He was not accompanied by any Israeli leaders.
Church visit
He also visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Occupied Jerusalem, and today he will travel to Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank where he will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“During my travels in recent days, I have found new reasons for hope,” Trump said in a brief speech on arrival.
“We have before us a rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace to this Trump and Melania sign the guest book at the Israeli President’s Residence. region and its people, defeating terrorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity and peace, but we can only get there working together. There is no other way,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel shared Trump’s commitment to peace, but he also said he needed political and security assurances from the Palestinians first, including recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that any three-way meeting between Trump, Netanyahu and Abbas was for “a later date”.
Trump has vowed to do whatever is necessary to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians — something he has called “the ultimate deal” — but has given little indication of how he could revive negotiations that collapsed in 2014.
Flip-flop on two-state
When he met Abbas this month in Washington, he stopped short of explicitly recommitting his administration to a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, a longstanding foundation of US policy.
He has since spoken in support of Palestinian “self-determination”.
On Sunday, Israel authorised some economic concessions to the Palestinians that it said would improve civilian life and were intended to respond to Trump’s request for “confidence-building steps”.
The US welcomed the move but the Palestinians said they had heard such promises before. Trump has also opted against an immediate move of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem, a longtime demand of Israel.
A senior administration official said that Trump remained committed to his campaign pledge to relocate the embassy, but would not announce such a move during this trip. “For now, we don’t intend to do anything that we think could upset the current discussions.”
Netanyahu has come under pressure from right-wing members of his own coalition who say he is not pushing hard enough to get Trump to carry out his promise. Over the weekend, Trump received a warm welcome from Arab leaders, who focused on his desire to restrain Iran’s influence in the region.
In Occupied Jerusalem, Trump continued his tirade against Iran accusing it of “funding, training and equipping terrorists and militias”.
“The US and Israel can declare with one voice that Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon - never ever” Trump said. His trip ends on Saturday.
Trump has opted against an immediate move of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem.