White House will not insist on two-state solution in Mideast

US President Donald Trump's sharp break with decades of support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does "not make sense," a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official said on Wednesday.

"This does not make sense," PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi told Agence France-Presse. "This is not a responsible policy and it does not serve the cause of peace."

The White House signaled a sharp break with decades of support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Tuesday, on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House.

A senior White House official said the United States would no longer seek to dictate the terms of any eventual peace settlement, but would support what the two sides agree to together.

"A two-state solution that doesn't bring peace is not a goal that anybody wants to achieve," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Peace is the goal, whether that comes in the form of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want, or something else if that's what the parties want."

President Trump will host Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, and is expected to express his desire to help broker a solution to the conflict.

For the better part of half a century successive US governments, Republican and Democrat, have backed a two-state solution.
But since coming to office Trump has sought to show that the United States is an unwavering ally of Israel, trying to draw a contrast with President Barack Obama.

Obama often warned that Israeli settlement construction could make a two-state solution impossible, and that a one state solution would put the future of the Jewish state in question.

"That's going to be up to them, we are not going to dictate what the terms of peace are going to be," said the official.