Trump, Abdullah Talk Israeli-Palestinian Peace

April 6, 2017

by: Ilse Posselt

Thursday, 6 April 2017 | On Monday it was the Egyptian president’s chance. Two days later, the King of Jordan got his turn. Yesterday, US President Donald Trump welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan to the White House for the second meeting this week between the American commander-in-chief and heads of Arab states. And as with the meeting between Trump and Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the matter of peace between Israel and the Palestinians once again dominated the discussion between the two world leaders.

Speaking during a joint press conference held in front of the White House following a closed-door session, Trump expressed his optimism in managing to hammer out a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. “I think we will be successful. I hope to be successful—I can tell you that.”

“To advance the cause of peace in the Middle East, including peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Trump continued, “I am working very, very hard on trying to finally create peace between the Palestinians and Israel.”

The US president also sang Abdullah’s praises, calling him as “a really tireless advocate for a solution.” Moreover, according to Trump, the Hashemite king would play a leading role in forging such a solution very soon, assisting Trump at “the highest level.”

“We will be consulting with him [Abdullah] very closely in the days ahead,” Trump vowed. “Working together, the United States and Jordan can help bring peace and stability to the Middle East and in fact to the entire world. And we will do that.”

The Jordanian king returned the praise, lauding the US president’s commitment to addressing challenges in the Middle East, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that Trump’s “early engagement is beginning to bring Palestinians and Israelis together.”

Although neither Trump nor Abdullah mentioned the two-state solution, the Hashemite king hailed the Arab Peace Initiative as a guaranteed path to “a historic reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as all member states in the Arab League. It is the most comprehensive framework for a lasting peace.”

“It ensures statehood for the Palestinians, but also security, acceptance and normal ties for Israel with all Arab countries and, hopefully, all Islamic countries,” Abdullah vowed.

Although Israel has demonstrated its commitment to peace through direct negotiations with the Palestinians time and time again, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken out publicly against the Arab Peace Initiative as a means to achieving lasting peace. “If the Arab nations grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk,” Netanyahu explained late last year. “But if they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as ‘take it or leave it’—we will choose to leave it.”

Netanyahu’s reservations stem from the negative implications that the initiative will hold for Israel. The ten-sentence proposal, unveiled and adopted by the Arab League in 2002, the Arab Peace Initiative demands that Israel withdraw to pre-1967 borders, evacuate all Jews living in Judea and Samaria, divide Jerusalem and welcome an influx of “Palestinian refugees.” In exchange, the Jewish state receives the promise of normalization of ties with Arab countries.

Yesterday’s get-together follows a meeting between Trump and al-Sisi on Monday, after which London-based Arab daily, Al Hayat, reported that the two world leaders discussed hosting an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit aimed at kick-starting renewed negotiations between the two parties. According to Al Hayat, the summit will reportedly take place in Washington as early as this coming summer and both Egypt and Jordan will play a leading role in convincing the Palestinians to return to the negotiation table.

Last week, twenty-one Arab kings, presidents and leaders from across the region gathered in the Hashemite Kingdom for the 28th Arab League Summit. The confab came to an end with a closing statement which highlighted the participants’ commitment “to relaunch serious Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations… that take place within a set period of time based on the two-state solution.” The document added that the solution should be based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative—without any amendments.

Dubai-based Al Khaleej Times claimed last week that al-Sisi and Abdullah planned to propose the Arab Peace Initiative during their meetings with Trump. Trump is reportedly expected to respond to the Jordanian-Egyptian proposals during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which is tentatively scheduled to take place later this month.

Posted on April 6, 2017

Source: (Bridges for Peace, 06 April 2017)

Photo Credit: World Economic Forum/ Wikimedia

Photo License: Wikimedia