McMaster says Trump will back Palestinian 'self-determination' during his trip to Israel

President Donald Trump gives a joint statement with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority
(Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

President Trump will indicate his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict during his forthcoming Mideast trip, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster announced Friday. Trump will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian leadership, said McMaster, so he can "reaffirm America's unshakeable bond to the Jewish state" while expressing "his desire for dignity and self-determination for the Palestinians."

This is an apparent reversal from Trump's refusal to commit to a two-state solution earlier this year after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I'm looking at two-state and one-state and I like the one that both parties like," he said then. In March, Trump called peace between Israelis and Palestinians the "toughest deal to make."

Trump's trip, which begins this coming week, includes stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Rome. The president will visit holy sites of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, McMaster said, because he wants "to unite people of all faiths around a common vision of peace, security, and prosperity."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.