U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he hopes to present his peace initiative in the near future. Furthermore, the American leader noted that his decision to take Jerusalem “off the table” was a notable step in the right direction yet emphasized that Israel will have to make a significant concession to the Palestinians in return. According to Trump, “There’s nothing I would rather do than see peace between Israel and the Palestinians. I think lots of good things are happening. It will take a little time, as you know. It’s taken plenty of time; many, many decades and nothing has happened. But a lot of good things are happening. Actually, by taking off the table the embassy moving to Jerusalem, that was always the primary ingredient as to why deals couldn’t get done. I spoke to many of the negotiating teams and they said they could never get past the embassy moving into Jerusalem and all of what that meant. Which, you know what that meant: that meant everything. And now, that’s off the table. Now, that will also mean that Israel will have to do something that will be good for the other side.” President Trump further revealed that he views a two state-solution as the best way forward, effectively aligning himself with the international community and their preferred outcome to the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his words, “I like two-state solution. Yeah. That’s what I think–, that’s what I think works best. I don’t even have to speak to anybody; that’s my feeling. Now, you may have a different feeling; I don’t think so. But I think two-state solution works best.” In response to Trump’s support of the two-state solution, the Palestinian leadership asserted that a commitment by the American leader was not sufficient, signaling their demand for concrete actions.
