Israel-Palestinian conflict: Two-state solution not only option, US says.
A White
House official says a two-state solution may not be the only option to solve
the Israel-Palestinian conflict, signalling a major policy shift.
The comment came as the US and
Israeli leaders prepared to meet for the first time since Donald Trump's
election. Mr Trump says he believes achieving a long-elusive peace is possible,
calling it "the ultimate deal". He has stated his strong support for
Israel after its relations with the US deteriorated under Barack Obama. The
former US president was a staunch critic of Jewish settlement activity -
strongly advocated by Mr Netanyahu - in the occupied West Bank and East
Jerusalem, land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.
For decades successive US governments
have backed a two-state solution - the idea of establishing an independent
Palestinian state that lives side-by-side with Israel.
But on Tuesday, an unnamed senior
White House official suggested the US would support any form of final peace
deal reached between Israel and the Palestinians, retreating from its long-term
insistence of a two-state formula. "A two-state solution that doesn't
bring peace is not a goal that anybody wants to achieve," the official said,
speaking anonymously. "Peace is the goal, whether that comes in the form
of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want, or something else if
that's what the parties want."
What
is the two-state solution?
A "two-state solution" to
the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is the declared goal
of their leaders and the international community. It is the shorthand for a
final settlement that would see the creation of an independent state of
Palestine within pre-1967 ceasefire lines in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem, living peacefully alongside Israel. The UN, the Arab League, the
European Union, Russia and, until now, the US routinely restate their
commitment to the concept.
State department officials were
unaware of any policy shift and have been seeking clarification from the White
House, the Associated Press news agency reported. Palestinian officials have
denounced the comments, with Palestine Liberation Organisation executive
committee member Hanan Ashrawi telling AFP: "This is not a responsible
policy and it does not serve the cause of peace."
Husam Zomlot, an adviser to Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, said the "two-state solution is not something we
just came up with". Meanwhile UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that there was no alternative plan
for resolving the conflict, urging the international community to do everything
it could to bring about a two-state solution. BBC Middle East editor Jeremy
Bowen says hardliners in Israel want President Trump to drop the idea of two
states, as they believe the land needed for a Palestinian state should be part
of Israel.
Separately on Wednesday, two unnamed
Palestinian officials said CIA director Mike Pompeo had held talks with
President Abbas in Ramallah a day earlier, in what would be the first
high-profile meeting between the Palestinians and a senior member of the Trump
administration. The meeting was described as "warm and positive,"
according to the Associated Press.
'Dangers
and opportunities'
President Trump and Benjamin
Netanyahu have previously met and both have spoken of having a good
relationship. As he departed for the US, Mr Netanyahu said he and President
Trump "see eye-to-eye on the dangers emanating from the region but also
the opportunities". Iran is also expected to be high on the agenda, with
both leaders previously denouncing the nuclear deal reached under the Obama
administration.
Mr
Netanyahu sees Iran as the number one threat to Israel and has urged
"responsible nations" to follow Mr Trump's lead after the president imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran in response
to a ballistic missile test.
Iran does not recognise Israel's
right to exist and has called for its eradication. President Trump has
described as a "terrible deal" the 2015 agreement which lifted
international sanctions on Iran in return for scaling back its nuclear
programme.
Trump's
position on settlements
Israel regards the election of Donald
Trump as an opportunity to improve relations with the US. After Mr Trump
indicated he would take a much more tolerant approach to Jewish settlement
activity, Israel advanced plans for thousands of new homes in settlements in
the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Soon
after, however, the US president expressed some concern saying he did not see "going
forward" with settlements as conducive to peace. But, at the same time,
the White House said it does not regard the existence of settlements as an
impediment - a reversal of the long-term position of the US. More than 600,000
Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the
West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under
international law, though Israel disputes this.
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