Trump meets Palestine President, urges resumption of peace talks

By refusing to discuss the nature of a future solution to the conflict, its general contours, and the key preconditions for entering negotiations, Trump kept both sides content – at least until he gets down to real dealmaking.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after making statements to the press, Tuesday, May 23, 2017, in the West Bank City of Bethlehem.

The plan – and one of the guiding ideas behind this trip – is that together they form a structure of ideas and presidential principles that bureaucrats, and the few political appointees Trump has in place, can use to run a coherent Middle East policy while Trump exists as more of a figurehead than a day-to-day decision maker.

The president has been trying to calibrate his expectations for peace. But he did not mention what has always been the goal of USA diplomacy in the region – a two-state solution to the conflict: Israel and a Palestinian state.

After greeting Trump with a firm handshake, Hazan whipped out his phone and said: “I wish I could do a selfie with you”.

And just after Trump makes the statement, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, is seen running his hand through his hair – a move that some have interpreted as embarrassment on the president’s behalf.

Fresh off stints in Saudi Arabia and Israel that consisted mostly of weird or bungled photo-op appearances, the Trump administration is somehow feeling very good about itself.

The President is urging the USA and Israel to boost cooperation against common threats, and declaring that Iran never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

By making the Arab-Israeli conflict the centerpiece of his first trip overseas, and putting such a high-profile figure in charge of it, Trump has jumped headlong in without the usual caution and discretion shown by his predecessors. He’s taken a tougher than expected line on settlements, saying he doesn’t believe they help the peace process, though he’s stopped short of calling for a full construction freeze. Trump’s rhetoric matches the reality on the ground: Since Israel is one of the top recipients of US military aid, negotiators won’t see Washington as a neutral party even if the USA would like to assume that role.

The holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam, it is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was taken from Jordan in the 1967 war. During his trial, Mimran said the money was a donation to Mr. Netanyahu’s 2009 election campaign.

“If Israel has a strong partner in the Arab world, then we will be able to bring the change”, said Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, who was privy to some of the high-level meetings with the Americans. That omission encouraged Israel’s right-wing but it disappointed Palestinians.

Trump later visited the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, and spoke at the Israel Museum, where he focused on terrorism. Walking on the red carpet following a formal welcoming ceremony, Trump seemed to turn to grab his wife’s hand, but was apparently swatted away by Melania. Trump did not visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was originally rumored to be part of the itinerary. He toured the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which by Christian tradition is where Jesus was crucified and the location of his tomb.

Trump was also joined at the wall by his family, who separated by gender to pray.

Melania has been a source of discussion during her husband’s first trip as president. Trump approached alone and placed his hand on the stone.

But Trump purposefully declined to take on the issue or to threaten cutting US aid to the Palestinians until the practice is stopped.

Israel seized east Jerusalem during the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the global community. The PA, however, does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and has repeatedly refused to do so.