TRUMP SAYS UNSURE ISRAEL SEEKS PEACE WITH PALESTINIANS
"I am not necessarily
sure that Israel is looking to make peace," Trump says adding that,
"I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements."
US President Donald
Trump said in an interview published on Sunday that he was "not
necessarily sure" Israel was seeking to reach a peace agreement with the
Palestinians.
Trump has previously
denounced the Palestinians for what he sees as their unwillingness to
negotiate, but he has largely refrained from criticising Israel.
Speaking to
freesheet daily Israel Hayom, Trump noted that while US-Israel relations were
"great", peace with the Palestinians would make them "a lot
better".
"Right now, I
would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace. They are not looking
to make peace," Trump said in the interview with the right-wing paper.
"And I am not
necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace. So we are just going to
have to see what happens."
Trump also expressed
concerns about Israeli settlement building, although his administration has
been far less critical of settlements than his predecessor Barack Obama.
Trump's ambassador
to Israel, David Friedman, has in the past been a supporter of Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank.
"The
settlements are something that very much complicates and always have
complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the
settlements," he said.
Trump has said he
intends to bring the Israelis and Palestinians to the "ultimate deal"
that would resolve the decades-long conflict, but in the interview he
questioned whether negotiations were even possible for now.
"I don't know
frankly if we are going to even have talks. We will see what happens, but I
think it is very foolish for the Palestinians and I also think it would be very
foolish for the Israelis if they don't make a deal," Trump said.
"It's our only
opportunity and it will never happen after this."
Relations between
Washington and the Palestinians have been severely strained since Trump's
December decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the
American embassy there.
Palestinian leaders
say there can be no talks with the US administration until the decision on the
city that they also see as their capital is reversed.
Trump is also
withholding tens of millions of dollars from UNRWA, the UN agency for
Palestinian refugees.
Source: AFP
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