When President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February, he promised to be the architect of a peace deal between Israel and Palestine that had the potential to be "bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand." Netanyahu was visibly skeptical: "Let's try," he told the president.
"That doesn't sound too optimistic," Trump noted.
But as Trump arrives in Israel hoping to make good on his promises, some Israelis told The Washington Post that they're cautiously hopeful he could make headway where his predecessors failed. "I don't think anyone can fix whatever is wrong here, but [Trump] is so weird that he just might have something," said one Jewish Israeli, Noga Perry. "I have no way of knowing what the hell he will do … but maybe he will have something that is crazy enough to work."
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Another Jewish Israeli, Yakov, told The Washington Post that Trump "will try."
"Okay? Good for him. He's a very optimistic guy," Yakov said. "He's not the first, he won't be the last to try. I like him."
A Palestinian Muslim interviewee was more pessimistic: "He called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, so there's that," Heba said. "We are skeptical."
"It's a lot more complicated than Trump thinks," added Judith Turgeman, a Jewish Israeli. "It's been going on for a 100 years. We'll see."
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