Donald Trump Remark Raises Doubts About American Support For The Israel-Palestine Solution

Trump’s remarks raise the fearful spectre of a single Jewish­ Palestinian state.

- Saif Shahin

Around 20 years ago, while touring the US during his first stint as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu paid a visit to his good friend, real estate dev­eloper Charles Kushner—a committed contributor to Israeli causes. He stayed overnight at Kushner’s New Jersey home and slept in the bedroom of Kushner’s teenaged son Jared, who temporarily shifted to the basement.

This month, when Netanyahu visited Washington DC to greet the new American president, he saw a familiar face in the White House crowd. Jared Kushner, now 36, is son-in-law to Donald Trump and has been appointed as a negotiator to “do peace” in West Asia.

The press in both countries has been awash with anecdotes about Jared Kushner’s close ties with Israel and its premier—like the one above, from The New York Times—since Trump’s inauguration. But there is little evidence that the prodigal son-in-law’s personal connection has brought a clearer vision about how to end the seven-decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Instead, Trump’s statement to the media after his meeting with Netanyahu has thrown the US’ West Asia policy into something of a disarray. “I’m looking at two-state and one-state (solutions),” Trump said. “I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one that both parties like. I can live with either one.” This would imply that America was reneging on its decades-long official position as well as the international consensus: to push for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would exist alongside Israel.