US President Donald Trump supports the goal of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, even if it doesn't involve the two-state solution, a senior White House official says.
Speaking a day before Trump holds a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official said peace was the ultimate goal.
"Whether that comes in the form of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want, or something else," the official said, adding that Trump would not try to "dictate" a solution.
Failure by a US president to explicitly back a two-state solution would upend decades of US policy embraced by Republican and Democratic administrations.
It has long been the bedrock US position for resolving the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been at the core of international peace efforts.
Any sign of a softening of US support for eventual Palestinian statehood could also anger the Muslim world, including Sunni Arab allies, which the Trump administration needs in the fight against Islamic State and to back efforts against Shi'ite Iran.
Trump considers Middle East peace a "high priority," the White House official said. The president has given his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the job of negotiating a peace deal.
Speaking a day before Trump holds a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official said peace was the ultimate goal.
"Whether that comes in the form of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want, or something else," the official said, adding that Trump would not try to "dictate" a solution.
Failure by a US president to explicitly back a two-state solution would upend decades of US policy embraced by Republican and Democratic administrations.
It has long been the bedrock US position for resolving the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been at the core of international peace efforts.
Any sign of a softening of US support for eventual Palestinian statehood could also anger the Muslim world, including Sunni Arab allies, which the Trump administration needs in the fight against Islamic State and to back efforts against Shi'ite Iran.
Trump considers Middle East peace a "high priority," the White House official said. The president has given his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the job of negotiating a peace deal.
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