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Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Changing-the-conversation-481827
Changing the Conversation
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - In his press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday, President Trump essentially said, "I'm not married to any formula; whatever works for you guys, works for me. Go figure it out." His subtext: Negotiate. Maybe there are solutions out there other than the "two-state solution," perhaps interim, perhaps even far from perfect but better than what exists now. These could range from limited statehood to some kind of federation with Jordan. All these ideas were always summarily dismissed by the Obama administration, saying: "The Palestinians will never accept it." They are certainly not going to accept it if the leaders of the world say, "the Palestinians will never accept it." It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if - in light of the fact that the two-state option hasn't worked - the leaders of the world would begin to open up a bit to other ideas, the Palestinians might realize they will not succeed in their current aim of trying to get the world to foist this so-far unworkable solution on Israel. Trump, in his comments, was not advocating one state, but, rather, was saying to both sides: "Do what you want, just find something that works." As former ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren put it, for the last eight years there was a president in the White House for whom the two- state solution was the only solution. Nevertheless, the Palestinians refused to negotiate with Israel over the terms. According to Oren, what Trump and Netanyahu said was that the two-state solution is not possible now, and as a result there is a need to search for other, more workable solutions. "They may not be ideal solutions, but they are solutions that would involve interim measures and recognition of the fact that there might be a two-state reality on the ground that might not conform to what we know as a two state-solution, but would enable the Palestinians to lead their lives in prosperity and security and also redound to Israel's benefit."