Trump Administration Discourages Use Of Phrase ‘Two-State Solution’
The Handshake: The agreement between Rabin and Arafat has had a troubled legacy. Image by Getty Images
By Ron Kampeas April 23, 2019
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The White House is discouraging the use of the term “two-state solution” when describing possible outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A senior White House official on Monday confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency a report that appeared over the weekend on Sky News Arabic, a satellite TV station, and picked up by the Times of Israel.
“The two-state solution term means different things to different people,” the official told JTA. “There is no point in using a phrase that never achieved peace. Our plan provides a clear, realistic and detailed vision of what peace could actually look like.”
The Trump administration plans to release a detailed peace plan as early as June. The plan’s lead architects are Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adivser; Jason Greenblatt, his top peace negotiator, and David Friedman, his ambassador to Israel.
Last month, speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Friedman said that Israel would retain security control of the West Bank. Friedman did not elaborate, but Palestinian leaders see control of their own defense and foreign policy as a necessary component of statehood.
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