Trump says he will launch new Middle East peace process

The US is launching a new diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday while hosting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House.

Reminding Abbas that he signed the 1993 Oslo Accords in Washington – the first diplomatic framework for Israeli- Palestinian peace – Trump said he was impressed by the ability of Israeli and Palestinian security forces to work together, and that such cooperation gave him hope that he could finally broker the toughest deal of them all.

 

“We’ll start a process which hopefully will lead to peace,” Trump said in the Roosevelt Room. “Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve always heard that perhaps the toughest deal to make is the deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Let’s see if we can prove them wrong.”

Peace requires Palestinian leadership to speak with a united voice against incitement, the president added: “There’s such hatred,” he said. But Trump did not ask for specific commitments from Abbas in public.

“We want to create peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump told Abbas. “We will get it done. We will be working so hard to get it done. It’s been a long time, but we will be working diligently – and I think there’s a very, very good chance. And I think you feel the same way.”

 

Read More: Trump says he will launch new Middle East peace process – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post