US President Donald Trump (R) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 26, 2018 in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm \/ AFP) (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The statement was less than a definitive walkback from Trump\u2019s comments soon after he assumed office, in which he appeared to retreat from years of U.S. policy that supported a Palestinian state alongside Israel as an outcome of a final status peace deal. But the president suggested that two states would be wrapped into the peace proposal now being drafted by a team led by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, who since 2017 also has retreated from a two-state commitment, played down the significance of Trump\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone defines the term \u2018state\u2019 differently,\u201d he told reporters after the Trump meeting, Haaretz reported. \u201cI am willing for the Palestinians to have the authority to rule themselves without the authority to harm us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump predicted the plan would appear by early next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say over the next two to three to four months, something like that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be the time that I\u2019d like to at least release the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said he was confident the Palestinians would return to the effort to revive the peace talks, although they quit the process in December after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Trump has cut off all U.S. assistance to the Palestinians. He suggested that if they rejoined the process, aid would resume.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were being abused by the leadership of the Palestinians and giving them all of this money,\u201d he said. \u201cSo now we\u2019re not. But that will start up again and it\u2019ll start up \u2014 I look forward to it because they use it for some purposes that are good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kushner and his team, including lead negotiator Jason Greenblatt and ambassador to Israel David Friedman, have not released any details of their proposed deal, which has frustrated their efforts to garner support for it.<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah, also in New York for the General Assembly, met privately with Jewish leaders and dismissed reports that Arab nations were lining up behind the peace proposal, saying that none of them \u2014 including himself \u2014 have any idea what\u2019s in it.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu thanked Trump for moving the embassy to Jerusalem, and also for his tough posture toward Iran, particularly for pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal, which traded sanctions relief for a partial rollback of Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Netanyahu led opposition to the deal, and Trump this year restored some sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the fact that you brought American sanctions to bear has cut the cash machine of Iran and its campaign of carnage and conquest of the Middle East,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
The international community has mostly opposed the U.S. pullout, and Europe, Russia and China hope to sustain the deal even with the U.S. absence.<\/p>\n
Trump chaired a session of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday and asked other nations to reinstate Iran sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ask all members of the Security Council to work with the United States to ensure the Iranian regime changes its behavior and never acquires a nuclear bomb,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump didn\u2019t make much headway, at least gauging the reactions of the diplomats present.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unilateral withdrawal of the United States from [the deal] creates a serious threat to nonproliferation,\u201d Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s two top foreign policy deputies, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, made the case for Iran\u2019s isolation Tuesday at a conference convened by United Against a Nuclear Iran, a group that has led the charge against the deal and has ties to the centrist and right-wing pro-Israel community.<\/p>\n
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