YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUCE
Trump vows ‘better peace deal than people even understand’
President Trump said yesterday he is committed to working with Israel on a “really great peace deal” with the Palestinians, either one state or two.
President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday — and the president vowed to cut a Middle East peace deal that will be so much “bigger and better” than previous plans that people won’t even be able to fathom it.
“The United States will encourage a peace, and really a great peace deal,” Trump said during a joint press conference with the Netanyahu at the White House. “It might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand. That’s a possibility.”
The leaders duo also said the two countries and their Mideast allies were already working on a deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Our administration is committed to working with Israel, and our common allies in the region towards greater security and stability. That includes working toward a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump said.
He also upended decades of US policy when he said he was not married to a two-state solution. “I am looking at two-state, and onestate,” said Trump, who also urged Netanyahu to slow the pace of new settlements in disputed territory in order to be “flexible.”
“I can live with either one,” Trump said of one-state and twostate solutions. “I thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two. But honestly, if Bibi, and if the Pales- tinians, if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I’m happy with the one they like the best.”
And he boasted again about his election victory — in response to a question about anti-Semitic violence in the US.
“I think one of the reasons I won the election is we have a very, very divided nation. Very divided. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do something about that,” he said, adding that he knows a lot of Jewish people.
“As far as people, Jewish people, so many friends, a daughter who
happens to be here right now. A son-in-law. And three beautiful grandchildren. I think that you are going to see a lot different United States of America over the next three, four or eight years. You’re going to see a lot of love. OK?”
Netanyahu lavished praise on Trump but said the Palestinians would have to agree to his own longstanding demands that they recognize Israel’s right to exist and stop teaching hatred of Jews in their schools and honoring terrorists who kill Israelis.
“There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump,” the prime minister said. “Under your leadership, I believe we can reverse the rising tide of radical Islam.”
“Rolling back radical Islam, we can seize a historic opportunity because for the first time in my lifetime and for the first time in the life of my country, Arab countries in the region do not see Israel as an enemy but increasingly as an ally.”
At one point, Netanyahu — who had a frosty relationship with President Barack Obama — flattered Trump when discussing negotiations.
“That’s the art of the deal,” he said, referring to Trump’s book of the same name.
Both men decried the Iranian nuke deal, with Netanyahu charging that Tehran’s goal wasn’t just to develop a nuclear bomb but an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons that could wipe out not only Israel, but the United States .
Meanwhile, CIA chief Mike Pompeo secretly has held talks in the West Bank with Mahmoud Abbas, in what was the first high-level meeting between the Palestinian leader and an administration official. Two senior Palestinian officials said the meeting took place Tuesday at Abbas’ headquarters in Ramallah.
Trump has appointed his sonin-law, Jared Kushner, 36, to lead the effort of Mideast peace.