Prominent
U.S. lawyer Alan Dershowitz said in an interview Thursday that President Donald
Trump spoke to him "clearly" about a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suggesting a shift in Trump's stance.
Trump broke
with longtime U.S. policy last month when he withheld clear support for an
independent Palestine, saying he could endorse a one-nation solution to the
conflict. "I'm looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that
both parties like," Trump said in a February press conference at the White
House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But
Dershowitz, who is Jewish and close to the Israeli prime minister, told Israel
Army Radio that he discussed the matter with Trump during a meeting on March
18, and that Trump endorsed two states in their conversation.
"Clearly
he was talking about a two-state solution. He was not in any way suggesting, at
least in his conversation with me, a one-state solution," Dershowitz said.
He said Trump is "anxious to convey the message that he really wanted to
have a peace agreement" and believes that Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas "is anxious to make a deal," Dershowitz said.
Nabil
Shaath, Abbas' foreign affairs adviser, confirmed that Abbas is
"anxious" to reach a peace agreement with Israel and said it was
"important" that Trump reportedly lent his support to the two-state
solution.
Netanyahu's
bureau and Israel's Foreign Ministry declined comment on Dershowitz's
interview.
For nearly a
half-century, the Israeli military has occupied the West Bank, land
Palestinians want for an independent state. Over the past two decades, the
international community has overwhelmingly backed the idea of a two-state
solution as the best way of reaching peace in the region.
But Trump's
campaign platform made no mention of a Palestinian state, and his appointed
ambassador to Israel has expressed skepticism about a two-state solution in the
past. Trump's inner circle includes aides with ties to the West Bank settler
movement, which objects to the creation of an independent Palestine.
Netanyahu
has not formally abandoned his stated support for the two-state solution, but
has stopped mentioning it in his speeches since Trump was elected. Instead, he
has made vague statements about seeking a region-wide peace agreement.
Dershowitz
said he was "pleasantly surprised" by Trump's knowledge of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying Trump spoke to him about the main issues
that would need to be solved in a two-state approach: competing claims to
Jerusalem, security concerns, demilitarization of a Palestinian state, and
Palestinian refugees' demands to return to land they fled or were expelled from
during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to Israel's independence.
The White
House has been holding intensive talks with Israel in recent weeks about an
agreement concerning Israel's future settlement building policy, but the sides
have not come to an agreement yet.
Netanyahu
said reaching an understanding with Washington on the settlements would be
"good for Israel." But he has also pledged to honor a promise to
build a new settlement to replace Amona, an illegal settlement outpost built on
private Palestinian land that was dismantled following an Israeli Supreme Court
ruling.
"I
promised from the beginning that we would create a new settlement,"
Netanyahu said Thursday. "I believe I gave the first commitment in
December and we will fulfill (the commitments) today. There are a few more
hours and you will know all of the details later."
According to
Israeli media, Netanyahu will convene his Security Cabinet late Thursday and is
expected to hold a vote to approve a replacement settlement in the West Bank.
(VOANews)
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