Israel right lauds Trump equivocacy on 2-state solution

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM (AA) - Right-wing figures in Israel have voiced their pleasure after U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday appeared to throw cold water on the prospects for a "two-state solution" to the Israel-Palestine dispute.

"A new era. New ideas. No need for 3rd Palestinian state beyond Jordan & Gaza," Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett crowed on Twitter following a joint press conference at the White House between the two leaders.

"Big day for Israelis & reasonable Arabs," added Bennett, an ardent opponent of a Palestinian state who has repeatedly called for the annexation by Israel of the entire occupied West Bank.

While Trump did not reject the notion of a two-state solution outright, he broke with Washington’s longstanding support for the idea by saying he could "live with" either a one-state or a two-state solution to the conflict.

Netanyahu, for his part, also appeared to step back from his previous public support for a two-state solution, saying he would not use "labels" to classify potential peace settlements.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely echoed Bennett's position, telling Israel's Channel 7 that "the ‘two-state’ era has ended".

The apparent shift in U.S. policy, however, was not welcomed internationally, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying Wednesday that there was no alternative to a two-state solution.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, said in a statement that abandoning a two-state solution would lead to instability in the region, but said he would continue to work with Trump in hopes of finding a solution.

Earlier Wednesday, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat asserted that a one-state solution to the dispute would have to guarantee equal rights for all citizens.

"Contrary to Netanyahu's plan of one state and two systems, apartheid, the only alternative to two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 borders is one single secular and democratic state with equal rights for everyone -- Christians, Muslims and Jews -- on all of historical Palestine," Erekat said.