Israelis and Palestinians must negotiate peace themselves

Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting against Jews and Israelis, refusing to meet with Israeli officials to conduct peace talks and insisting on preconditions that Israel says effectively bar such talks from taking place.

In a video message, Netanyahu congratulated Trump about his election Wednesday.

While so much about Trump’s thinking on the Middle East remains unknown, he and his advisers have spoken of overturning decades of precedent by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv.

Daily Yediot Aharonot published extracts from a leaked report prepared by the Foreign Ministry’s Centre for Political Research.

Jason Greenblatt’s comments to Israel’s Army Radio Thursday would mark a stark departure from the long-time American stance that Israeli construction in areas captured in the 1967 war makes it more hard to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

“Any meaningful contribution he can offer up, he’s there to do”.

Rather than direct and overbearing interference, like past presidents, Greenblatt said Trump “is not going to impose any solution on Israel”.

As for any agreement on a two-state solution, a top adviser to Trump said today that the president-elect doesn’t think Israeli settlements (new construction on occupied territory) will impede the peace process.

“The hostility will be gone between Israel and the U.S.”, Friedman continued. He added that such policies would make more turmoil than the United States could handle.

Sa’ar – who retired from politics in 2014 – said the plan should include wide-scale settlement construction in the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem and in the E1 corridor near the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, illegal under worldwide law.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also praised praised Trump as a “devoted supporter of Jerusalem”, adding that he expected the new administration to move the United States embassy to the capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Trump’s victory, saying the former reality star was a “true friend of Israel”.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki found that Trump’s win, in light of his pro-Israel campaign promises, was cause for concern.

“The Palestinian people do not count much on any change in the U.S. presidency because the United States policy towards the Palestinian issue is a consistent policy on the basis of bias”, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.

Melania Trump told Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israel’s prime minister, on Saturday that relations between the U.S. and Israel, and between their two families, “will be wonderful”, and that she and President-elect Donald Trump will visit Israel “at the first opportunity”. Rumours that Obama would either issue a set of parameters or support an worldwide initiative have swirled since the summer.

The Tel Aviv regime has defied worldwide calls to stop its unauthorized construction activities, with its settlement expansion being among the main reasons behind the collapse of the last round of the so-called Middle East peace talks in 2014.