Trump Meets Netanyahu: I Think the Two-state Solution Will Work Best

Sep

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U.S. President Donald Trump said in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he believes that the two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "will work best." Trump claimed the details of the plan would be revealed in two to three months, and assessed that the Palestinians would return to the negotiating table, "100 percent."

"I think the two states solution will work best," Trump said during a joint press statement with Netanyahu. "A lot of progress has been made, Israel and the Palestinians want to do something. We”ll start moving pretty soon rapidly."

Regarding Israel’s actions in Syria, Trump said "We are very much in favor," adding that Israel has "no choice" but to be aggressive. Netanyahu thanked Trump for his "strong words and strong actions against Iran at the General Assembly. Secondly for the extraordinary support for Israel in the UN."

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– Trump meeting with Netanyahu at sidelines of UN General Assembly.

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Netanyahu earlier met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and is expected to meet later in the day with Guatemala President Jimmy Morales, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

During his speech on Tuesday, Trump reiterated that the U.S. is "committed to a future of peace in the Middle East, including between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That aim has been advanced, not harmed," adding that "America’s policy of principled realism means we will not be held hostage to so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years time and time again."

Netanyahu will also meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, as well as a number of world leaders, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Netanyahu is also expected to meet Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi on the sidelines of the confab. Netanyahu and Sissi met at the sidelines of last year’s General Assembly, in their first public meeting since Sissi became president in 2014. In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the Egyptian leader expressed a desire to assist the efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians and in the region.

Sissi expressed his commitment to establishing a Palestinian state during his speech before the General Assembly on Tuesday, saying that the parameters of a resolution to the Palestinian issue are well-known and that "what is required is political will to resume negotiations and achieve a settlement in accordance with these parameters."

On Friday, the prime minister is scheduled to meet with Jewish community leaders in the city before returning to Israel on Saturday night.

The two meet occasionally without informing the media, as in the January 2016 “Aqaba summit,” convened to discuss renewing the peace process, when Netanyahu and Sissi, together with Jordan’s King Abdullah and then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in the Jordanian Red Sea resort. That gathering was first reported by Barak Ravid in Haaretz, about a year after it took place. A few months later, Sissi met in Cairo with Netanyahu and the leader of the Israeli opposition at the time, Isaac Herzog. Last month Ravid reported on Israel Channel 10 that Netanyahu met Sissi in Cairo in May to discuss Egyptian efforts to promote an agreement between Israel and Hamas over Gaza.

Culture Minister Miri Regev and Communications Minister Ayoub Kara are joining Netanyahu on his visit to New York. In response to a question by Haaretz, Kara’s office said he was expected to present Israel’s position on the new nation-state law “as a Druze cabinet minister” and to hold meetings on communications. Regev’s office said she had “a few meetings” scheduled in New York but did not provide additional details before press time. Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi will also be in the city at the time of Netanyahu’s address; he flew to New York to attend a meeting of donors to the Palestinians as well as a meeting of foreign ministers convened by the UN secretary general on the topic of strengthening the peacekeeping forces.