Abandoning two-state solution is ‘no joke’, Palestinian officials say

Palestinians have angrily warned the United States against abandoning a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, after a White House official said peace did not necessarily have to entail Palestinian statehood.

As Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, prepared to meet in Washington on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said the only alternative would be a single democratic state for Jews, Christian and Muslims together – or an “apartheid” state that would be “a disaster and a tragedy for both Israelis and Palestinians”.

On Tuesday, in a sharp reversal of US policy, a senior White House official briefed journalists in Washington that it was up to the Israelis and Palestinians themselves to decide on the shape of any future peace, adding: “Whether that comes in the form of a two-state solution if that’s what the parties want, or something else.”

 

Read More: Abandoning two-state solution is ‘no joke’, Palestinian officials say | World news | The Guardian