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Trump: Israeli-Palestinian deal will be made with me or ‘will never happen’

U.S. President Donald Trump commented on Saturday that he thinks the Palestinians want to make an agreement with Israel, but if it doesn’t happen while he’s in office, a deal will never materialize.

By World Israel News Staff

U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan on Saturday, offering his conclusions on the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians following the unveiling of a $50 billion economic package for the Palestinians last week in Bahrain.

“With me being president, if you don’t get that deal done it’ll never happen,” Trump told reporters in Japan. Trump also claimed there is a “very good chance” his administration’s proposal would succeed in finally resolving the Israel-Palestinian impasse.

Notwithstanding Palestinian leadership’s complete boycott of the Trump administration since 2017, Trump maintained that the Palestinians “want to make a deal,” adding that “they want to be a little bit cute — and that’s okay. I fully understand where they are coming from.”

The president also addressed huge cuts in aid to Palestinian agencies, explaining, “I ended that money because a year ago I heard they were saying nasty things. I said, ‘Wait a minute, we’re trying to make a deal, we’re trying to help them and they’re saying these nasty things, we’re not gonna pay.'”

“If you’re not negotiating and if you don’t want to help make peace, we’re not gonna pay you. So let’s see what happens,” he continued, adding, “I’ve had a very good relationship with some [Palestinian] leaders.”

Trump also referred to any forthcoming Israeli-Palestinians agreement as potentially “the toughest deal of all.”

“A lot of people think it can’t be made,” he said.

Trump’s comments arrive just days after the Peace to Prosperity conference in Bahrain, where senior adviser Jared Kushner presented a wide-ranging economic plan to boost international investment in Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria, in addition to the Gaza Strip, which he says could create around a million new jobs.

The Palestinian Authority disparaged the proposal immediately, claiming they would not be enticed to make concessions based on economic incentives.