President Donald Trump meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Sept. 15, 2020. (AP/Alex Brandon)
President bullish on peace, says he wants Iran and the Palestinians to join in.
By Paul Shindman, World Israel News
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that not only are more countries preparing to sign peace agreements with Israel, but he thinks it is possible for Iran and the Palestinians to join the movement.
Trump said he thinks he can get the countries of the region to reach a state of peace.
“You’re going to have peace in the Middle East,” Trump said at a photo-op with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House before the signing ceremony at which Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.
“This is peace in the Middle East without blood all over the sand,” Trump said, adding that the countries in the region have been fighting for decades and getting nowhere.
Trump said that other countries including Iran are “actually getting to a point where they’re going to want to make a deal. They won’t say that outwardly. They want to make a deal.”
“We’re very far down the road with about five countries, five additional countries,” said Trump. “Frankly, I think we could have had them here today,” the president added, noting that the talks with those countries were “coming along very quickly, we’re already talking to them … they want to see peace.”
“I spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia,” Trump said. “I think positive things will happen there.”
Trump said that the two Gulf countries’ agreement to make peace with Israel was a big achievement for his administration.
“There were two countries over a 72-year period … and we did an additional two in one month,” Trump said, referring to previous peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. Trump said emphatically that he would also bring Iran and the Palestinians to reach peace.
“I’m gonna make a good deal with Iran. I’m gonna make a deal that is great for Iran,” Trump said. “It’s gonna get them back and help them in every way possible, and Iran will be very happy. Iran will be very rich and very quickly,” he said, but advised Iranian leaders to wait until “after the election” in the U.S.
“The Palestinians will absolutely be a member,” Trump said. “We’re working [on] a deal. We are talking to the Palestinians. At the right time they’ll be joining.”
During their meeting before the signing, Trump presented Netanyahu and his wife Sarah with a symbolic key to the White House.
“This was a special token of affection given by myself and the First Lady to the prime minister and the first lady of Israel. It’s a key, we call it a key to the White House. And it’s a key to our country and to our hearts,” Trump told Netanyahu.
“You have the key to the hearts of the people of Israel because of all the great things that you have done for the Jewish state and the Jewish people,” Netanyahu told Trump in return.
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