‘Ridiculous’ if Trump doesn’t back 2-state solution — Palestinian official

A senior Palestinian official says it would be “utterly ridiculous” if Donald Trump did not commit to the two-state solution, ahead of a meeting between the US president and Mahmoud Abbas.

Trump is due to meet Abbas on Wednesday before the Palestinian Authority president’s address to the United Nations General Assembly the same day. The US leader has been seeking to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, in search of what he has labeled the “ultimate deal.”

But Palestinian officials have grown increasingly frustrated at the failure of Trump’s team to commit to the two-state solution, the focus of international diplomacy since at least the early 1990s.

“It would be utterly ridiculous if Mr Trump doesn’t eventually say that,” Nabil Shaath, a senior Abbas adviser, tells journalists in Ramallah when asked about the two-state solution.

“What the hell are we negotiating? We are negotiating a diplomatic accord between Abu Mazen and Mr Netanyahu where they can meet each other? No,” he adds, referring to Abbas by his Arabic nickname.

— AFP