Pres. Trump Promises Move on Peace ‘Very Soon’

The Trump administration is actively seeking a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the near term, according to a flurry of media reports in Israel on Tuesday night.

However, the reports were vague. U.S. President Donald Trump sent a message to Yerushalayim saying that he plans to move forward in this area “very soon,” Israel’s Channel 2 News reported.

Jason Greenblatt, the president’s envoy for international matters, is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan at a meeting of the Arab League on Wednesday.

Mr. Greenblatt said “the time has come to make a deal” and that Mr. Trump believes an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement “will reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.”

Whatever initiative Washington has in mind will presumably be on the agenda, though no details were available as of Tuesday night. Since Greenblatt’s visit to Israel and the PA two weeks ago, all sides have been circumspect on related issues, except to say that a positive start has been made.

Mr. Netanyahu and Greenblatt made “progress on the issue of Israeli settlement construction…to work out an approach that reflects both leaders’ views,” said a statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office issued after the second meeting between the two.

According to unnamed Israeli sources quoted by The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, the U.S. administration is “exploring” the possibility of a summer summit involving Gulf Arab leaders, Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“The president wants to bring them over – a public event with them,” one senior Israeli source said on Tuesday. “I think it’s feasible, but the question is what happens after.”

However, one senior U.S. official told the Post the White House is not working toward a specific event. “The administration is concentrating on building relationships with parties in the region,” the official said. “We’re just not contemplating such a conference at this time.”