After a controversial move to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, President Trump now describes how he doesn’t see how peace is to be achieved between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The embassy move was perceived as an affront by Palestinians and was harshly condemned by the international community.
The U.S. President’s view of facilitating the peace process thus far has been to withhold humanitarian aid to the Palestinians until they strike an accord with the Israelis. But, as he said in an interview on Sunday, with The Hill, he doesn’t think the Palestinians are looking to make peace, and, apparently, neither are the Israelis:
“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 told Israel Hayom. “I think both sides will have to make hard compromises to reach a peace agreement,” the president said.
Trump went on to say that controversial Israeli land settlements have played a role in muddling the peace process.
“We will be talking about settlements. The settlements are something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements,” he told Israel Hayom.
Trump threatened to cut additional aid to Palestinians last month after the U.S.announced it was withholding $65 million in aid to the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees.
“That money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” Trump said last month beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump drew the ire of Palestinians and the international community in December when he announced the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
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