President-elect Donald Trump declined Thursday to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he is open to whatever achieves peace, but that there was a need to consider “alternatives” toward that goal.
Trump’s remarks came in his interview with Time magazine, which named him “Person of the Year” for 2024 — an astonishing marker in achieving what historians will regard as the greatest political comeback in American history.
From the transcript (original emphasis):
You mentioned the Palestinian people. In your first term, your administration put forward the most comprehensive plan for a two-state solution in a long time. Do you still support that plan?
I support a plan of peace, and it can take different forms. When I did the Abraham Accords, that should have been loaded up with people, you know. I made a statement. I think they didn’t add one country. Think of it. They didn’t add one country to the Abraham Accords. We had the four countries, very important countries, but that should have been loaded up with Middle Eastern countries.
Do you still support a two-state solution?
I support whatever solution we can do to get peace. There are other ideas other than two state, but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace. It can’t go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives.
Your incoming ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, supports the settlement movement and Israel annexing the West Bank. The real question at the heart of this, sir, is, do you want to get a two-state deal done, outlined in your Peace to Prosperity deal that you put forward, or are you willing to let Israel annex the West Bank?
So what I want is a deal where there’s going to be peace and where the killing stops.
Polls show that Israelis, who backed a two-state solution just over a decade ago, are now overwhelmingly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, especially since Hamas used control of Gaza to launch the October 7 terror attack.
The Biden-Harris administration has doggedly pursued a two-state solution, even to the point of delaying a Saudi-Israel peace deal over the issue. That has effectively given the Palestinians a veto over peace elsewhere in the region.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
