In a letter read out at the event, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said “The the time has come to live – both you and us – in peace, harmony, security and stability”.
Advertisement
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, President of the International American Council and board member of the US-Middle East Chamber of Business and Commerce, wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post, where he assessed that Trump’s comments reflected the shared goal of stamping out extremism and addressing Iran as the number one state-sponsor of terrorism.
Mr Trump reiterated his desire to build a safer and more prosperous world, and strike the “ultimate deal” of Arab-Israeli peace during his four-day stint in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank, during which he paid his respects at Jerusalem’s holy sites.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who also serves as his adviser, was also in Israel this week as part of the Trump entourage.
Feeling satisfied with his maiden trip to Mideast, Trump said: “I am committed to trying to achieve a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians…” The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) echoed this sentiment in a strategy paper it delivered to Trump and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Unlike his predecessors, Trump considers Iran, not Russian Federation as the primary threat in the region; despite the clear cooperation between the two countries on regional affairs, especially in Syria. He seemed overjoyed with the arms deal as he repeatedly used the word “jobs”, said it was a “tremendous day”, and spoke of “hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in the us and jobs, jobs, jobs”.
Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who along with worldwide negotiations envoy Jason Greenblatt has been tasked by Trump with relaunching the peace process, reportedly told Herzog on Tuesday: “We are planning to move fast in starting a diplomatic process in order to reach a deal”.
Not only did USA Today omit this relevant information, but the paper also failed to note recent US and Israeli attempts to restart negotiations. If the administration wants to use this trip to develop actual USA policy, it will need to make hard choices and offer specific details.
The President is urging the USA and Israel to boost cooperation against common threats, and declaring that Iran never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
Now that the Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia at the US-Arab-Islamic Summit has ended, the government is attempting some damage control.
Trump brought smiles to the face of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netenyahu who had a somewhat tense relationship with former US president Obama.
A senior US official traveling with Trump said Washington understands what he described as Israel’s “completely legitimate” concerns and pledged to help the Jewish state maintain its military advantage.
Trump’s nine-day, five-stop worldwide tour resulted in few tangible policy achievements. “That fact has been well known to the peoples of the Middle East for nearly four decades”.
The two countries are in indirect conflict in Yemen. Iran’s support involves weapons and training.
President Trump flew to Tel Aviv direct from Saudi Arabia, where at a summit on Sunday he urged Arab and Muslim leaders to work together to “drive out” terrorist extremists.
But experts say this week’s gathering may not have given Baghdad much impetus to leave Tehran’s orbit.
In Syria, Iran has also deployed several thousand of its own troops to fight on the side of Syrian government forces, against the rebels who aim to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The G-7 summit began in the shadow of Trump’s remarkable appearance at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, in which he chastised some of the most loyal USA allies for not paying their fair share to the alliance.
Advertisement
Americans should be applauding that President Trump is seeking moderation of his stance on Muslims, and is now in tune with the Vatican and Saudi leaders.
