Donald Trump has on Monday landed in Israel for the second leg of his first foreign trip as president of the USA where he will tackle the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, address regional security issues and reaffirm the US’ commitment to its alliance with Israel.
The visit is the second of three stops on the President’s schedule aimed at highlighting the importance of the world’s three largest monotheistic religions. He arrived in Israel after visiting Saudi Arabia, then Vatican, home of the Catholic Church, reports CNN.
Trump has became the first US president to visit Western Wall amid controversy between the two countries over sovereignty at the site.
Trump approached the wall, rested his hand on it in a moment of silent reflection and placed a note inside — as is traditional practice for worshippers. The president covered his head with a kippah, a skullcap worn by observant Jews, according to Telegraph UK.
“Young Israeli and Palestinian children deserve to grow up in safety, and to follow their dreams free from the violence that has destroyed so many lives,” said Trump, in remarks alongside Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem.
Trump earlier told reporters and Miri Regev, Israel’s populist culture minister he would be open to a one-state solution, a statement that seemed to casually discard decades of bipartisan U.S. policy.
The one-state policy, which is supported by the Israeli Right, imagines that Israel will be the only state and that Palestinians will either become citizens of Israel or else live under permanent occupation without voting rights.
The two-state policy, which is, according to the Telegraph UK, embraced by the Palestinian leadership and most of the international community, envisions creating an independent state of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza in return for Israel being allowed to live in safety and security.
Palestinian leaders want an independent state of their own and have warned that a one-state solution in which Palestinians are not granted full citizenship would be a modern version of apartheid.
Many Israelis fear that giving Palestinians citizenship would mean that Israel would eventually no longer have a Jewish majority and would therefore cease to be a Jewish state.
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