Trump aide links Mideast plan to rising anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser warned Palestinians on Wednesday that Israeli settlements will continue to expand because rising antiSemitism around the world means more Jews will immigrate to Israel.
Addressing many hotbutton global issues in a speech and discussion with foreign diplomats to the United States, Robert O’Brien also said the president hoped to go to Beijing to talk to the Chinese about a three-way nuclear arms control pact with the U.S. and Russia. He said the president still hopes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will resume nuclear talks with the U.S.
O’Brien defended Trump’s Mideast peace plan, which was embraced by Israel but rejected by the
Palestinians. O’Brien said the plan is not “perfect,” but urged the Palestinians to negotiate terms of the proposed deal. The deal offers economic benefits that would allow Palestine to become the “Singapore of the Middle East,” he said.
The Palestinians have roundly denounced the proposal, which offers them limited self-rule in scattered chunks of territory with a capital on the outskirts of Jerusalem while allowing Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank. Protesters have burned U.S. and Israeli flags as well as posters of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stood with Trump at the White House when he rolled out the plan last week.
“This could be the last opportunity for a two-state solution,” O’Brien said at the Meridian International Center. “The Israeli birthrate is strong and is growing because sadly anti-Semitism in Europe and other places around the world is encouraging more Jews to return to Israel. The settlements are going to continue to expand. If this freeze on settlements doesn’t hold. If this peace process doesn’t work, it may be physically impossible to have a twostate solution.”
It was unusual for a highlevel administration official to tie anti-Semitism to the settlements. The Palestinians, as well as much of the international community, view the settlements in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem — territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war — as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. But O’Brien’s comments are in line with the Trump administration strongly favoring Israel in the longtime conflict.
Trump’s plan would foresee the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, but would allow Israel to annex all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.
Addressing arms control during a question-and-answer session, O’Brien said the administration has been in touch with Russia about what to do about the New START Treaty, which expires in exactly one year. It is the only remaining treaty limiting the number of U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons. Russia has expressed a willingness to extend the treaty for five years. Trump wants to pull China into the negotiations, citing China’s major defense buildup.
“We are going to work on those talks in the coming months and year and I’d expect we’ll be going to Beijing to talk to the Chinese about how we can reduce the threat of nuclear war,” he said.