President Trump renews efforts for peace in the Middle East

USCPR Executive Director Yousef Munayyer appears on Fox News

YOUSEF MUNAYYER: Well I do think you did hear a lot of optimism, but one of the things you didn’t hear, and I think this is one of the most important things from this entire trip, was neither the Israeli prime minister nor the American president mentioning the words “two-state solution”, which has been longstanding US policy towards this issue. So I think the big question now that remains open is “How is it that the American president would like to see peace and would like to see freedom, a value that he sounded out very loud and clearly today throughout his trip, realized for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation now for 50 years, if not through self-determination and a Palestinian state? If that’s not gonna happen, fine, that’s probably very realistic given the reality on the ground, but what does that mean for Palestinians, how can they achieve their rights, how can they live freely and enjoy the rights that all people do without Israeli military occupation? Donald Trump did not provide an answer for that, unfortunately…

Clearly Mark didn’t pay attention to what the President said today. The President spoke to Israelis directly and is meeting with Netanyahu today at the Israel Museum and he said “The Palestinians want peace.” And he looked at the Israeli government and he said “You also need to make serious concessions.” And so it’s very clear here that the Palestinians do want peace and you have an Israeli government that has stated clearly, this is their words, they do not want a Palestinian state. So if you’re going to hold a people under military occupation forever, it’s unlikely that you’re gonna have peace with them.