Trump: Mixed messages on peace process
US President Donald Trump has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the time is ripe for an Israeli–Palestinian peace deal.
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the time is ripe for an Israeli–Palestinian peace deal.
“President Putin noted that he would meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later today, and President Trump said that now is the time to work toward an enduring peace agreement,” the White House said in a statement on Monday describing a phone call between the two leaders.
However, Trump told an Israeli newspaper last week he was not confident that either the Israelis or the Palestinians are ready for peace.
The Palestinians walked away in December from US-led attempts to revive the peace talks when Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The American president also called the Iran nuclear deal “catastrophic for Israel”, during his interview with Israel Hayom editor-in-chief Boaz Bismuth, held in the Oval Office.
The free daily, owned by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a major giver to the Republican Party and Israel activist, published the interview of Trump in both English and Hebrew on Sunday.
Trump stressed his desire to achieve a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. “Right now, I would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace, they are not looking to make peace. And I am not necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace. So we are just going to have to see what happens,” Trump said.
He added that the settlements “always have complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements.”
Trump said it would be “foolish” for Israel and the Palestinians to not arrive at a peace agreement under his administration’s stewardship. “It’s our only opportunity and it will never happen after this,” he asserted.
Trump called the Iran nuclear agreement “a deal that says let’s ultimately do bad things to Israel”, and called his predecessor Barack Obama “absolutely terrible for Israel”.
He said relations between Israel and the United States currently are “as good as they ever have been”.
He described his December 6 declaration recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as the high point of his time in office so far. “(I)t was a very important pledge that I made and I fulfilled my pledge,” he said.
In his introduction to the interview, Bismuth described Trump as changed. “He was more serious, more thoughtful, considering my questions before firing back, and also more inquisitive, asking me far more questions for a change,” the editor wrote.
JTA
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