We Will Get It Done, Trump Tells Abbas Regarding Mideast Peace Deal
Trump expresses optimism in meeting Palestinians’ Abbas at White House, Washington-White House photo.
Washington, 7 Sya’ban 1438/4 May 2017 MINA) – During a joint appearance at the White House on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he was committed to a Middle East peace agreement and pledged, “We will get it done.”
“I want to support you in being the Palestinian leader who signs his name to the final and most important peace agreement that brings safety, stability, and prosperity to both peoples and to the region,” KUNA reported, citing Trump as telling to Abbas.
“I’m committed to working with Israel and the Palestinians to reach an agreement, but any agreement cannot be imposed by the United States or by any other nation,” Trump said.
“The Palestinians and Israelis must work together to reach an agreement that allows both peoples to live, worship, thrive and prosper in peace.”
Trump said he would “do whatever is necessary to facilitate the agreement, to mediate, to arbitrate – anything they’d like to do.
“We want to create peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump said.
“We will get it done.” However, Trump said, “There can be no lasting peace unless the Palestinian leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to violence and hate.
“All children of God must be taught to value and respect human life and condemn all of those who target the innocent,” he said.
The strategic choice
Abbas, on his part, said the strategic choice of the Palestinian Authority is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-state solution, “a Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967.”
A “comprehensive and just peace” based on the two-state solution “would give a great impetus to the Arab Peace Initiative and the other international initiatives,” as well as enable the deterrence of terrorism and the fight against the “criminal” so-called Islamic State (IS), Abbas noted.
This would also “lead the Arab and Islamic countries to have normal relations with Israel as stipulated in the previous Arab summits, the latest of which was the Arab summit in Jordan,” he added.
Abbas said he also believed “that we will be able to resolve the issue of the refugees and the issue of the prisoners,” referring to displaced Palestinians and those held in Israeli jails.
“Mr. President, it’s about time for Israel to end its occupation of our people and of our land after 50 years,” Abbas said.
“We are the only remaining people in the world that still live under occupation. “We are aspiring and want to achieve our freedom, our dignity and our right to self-determination, and we also want for Israel to recognize the Palestinian state, just as the Palestinian people recognize the state of Israel,” he added.
Trump said that as part of US efforts to move toward peace, “we will also discuss my administration’s effort to help unlock the potential of the Palestinian people through new economic opportunities.”
Trump said he wanted “to note the positive ongoing partnership between the United States and the Palestinians on a range of issues — private-sector development and job creation, regional security, counter-terrorism and the rule of law, all of which are essential to moving forward toward peace.”
Peace also means defeating IS and other terrorist groups that “are a threat to all people who cherish human life,” Trump said.
Abbas has spoken out against IS and other terrorist groups, Trump noted, “and we must continue to build our partnership with the Palestinian Security Forces to counter and defeat terrorism”. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
