President Trump wraps Mideast trip after Bethlehem, Jerusalem meetings

World Today

President Trump wraps Mideast trip after Bethlehem, Jerusalem meetings

U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Tuesday after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and delivering a keynote address in Jerusalem. President Trump talked peace and Iran.

CGTN’s Stephanie Freid reports.

A 45 minute meeting in Bethlehem with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas statements from both leaders after that meeting but no new revelations.

“I am truly hopeful that American can help Israel and the Palestinians forge peace and bring new hope to the region and its people,” the U.S. president said.

“Our fundamental problem is with the occupation and settlements, and failure of Israel to recognize the state of Palestine in the same way we recognize it, which undermines the realization of the two-state solution. The problem is not between us and Judaism. It’s between us and occupation,” Abbas said.

Statements filled with certainty about putting a peace deal together were downgraded to “hopeful” expectations. The U.S. president also omitted a key phrase.

What President Trump failed to say was ‘two-state solution’ referring to a future, independent Palestinian state. That omission encouraged Israel’s right-wing but it disappointed Palestinians.

But within the Palestinian sector, there’s not much expectation for developments beyond statements.

In the West Bank, where protesters are demonstrating solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the sentiment was similar.

Back in Jerusalem – Trump laid a wreath at Israel’s Holocaust Memorial and delivered a pre-departure keynote address punctuated by Israel-support, a push for Palestinian-Israeli peace and assurances of his administration’s position on Iran.

“The United States is firmly committed to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and halting their support of terrorists and militias,” Trump added.