Following a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Jordan and Egypt, together with the Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, the Arab officials declared optimism with regard to US President Donald Trump’s commitment to resolving the decades old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, while affirming their own commitment to do “whatever it takes to help push the process forward.”
“We’re committed to achieving that peace and in that regard, we also discussed the outcome of the extremely positive and successful and productive talks the leaders had in Washington during their meetings with President Trump. We all value the obvious and solid commitment that the President had made to ensuring progress towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And as our leaders emphasized there, we are willing to do the heavy lifting, we are going to do whatever it takes to help push the process forward and to be there, supporting the president and working with him,” said Ayman Safadi, Jordanian Foreign Minister.
Earlier this month during a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Trump vowed to do “whatever is necessary” to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but did not reveal how he plans to revive the long-stalled negotiations. That said, despite the renewed push for negotiations, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stressed that Israel’s continued expansion policy of settlements, located on lands the Palestinians demand for their future state, jeopardizes the viable implementation of a two-state solution.
“To continue the settlement activities on the land that is supposed to be the Palestinian state in the future, is transmitting one message to people, that those who continue the settlement activities, don’t want the two-state solution. I really urge the Israeli government to choose between settlements or peace and I hope that they will choose peace. We have negotiated, we will give peace a chance,” said Erekat.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry noted that the aspired solution to the conflict, will be brought forward on the basis of an Arab peace initiative, that would ultimately create a new environment that envisions the normalization of conditions in the region.
“The Arab peace initiative was a unilateral indication of the Arab, communal Arab decision to comprehensive peaceful solution on the basis of two states living side by side, and continues to present a vision of the normalization of conditions in the region and the creation of new environment,” said Shoukry.