Trump says one-state solution could lead to Israeli PM called ‘Mohammed’ - report
US President Donald Trump told King Abdullah II of Jordan that a one-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine could lead to an Israeli prime minister called “Mohammed” in a few years, according to a new report.
Trump made the comments in June, according to a report in Axios which quotes remarks made by King Abdullah to the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Jordan’s capital Amman earlier this month. The comments were relayed to the reporter by French diplomats who were present at the meeting.
In the meeting with Le Drian, Abdullah said he warned Trump during a June 25 conversation at the White House, that “many young Palestinians don’t want the two-state solution anymore, but would rather live together with the Israelis in one state with equal rights for all” and claimed claimed that Israel would lose its “Jewish character” under a one-state solution.
Trump reportedly agreed with the comment, saying that it “made sense” and jokingly added that “the prime minister of Israel in a few years will be called Mohammed” under that scenario.
According to the report, Abdullah also told Trump that any new peace plan from the White House must first be presented to the relevant European and Arab countries for input to ensure the deal is acceptable to everyone. He reportedly expressed frustration that the Trump administration had not yet done this, but also cautioned against rushing the plan because there were “too many difficulties at the moment”.
Abdullah also told Le Drian that Trump had stressed to him that if his administration could not find a solution to the conflict, no other US administration ever would.
An Israeli source and a former US official verified this account of the meeting between Trump and Abdullah, according to Axios — but both the White House and the Jordanian embassy in Washington declined to comment on the report.
The Trump administration has reportedly been working on a new peace plan for the Israel-Palestine conflict, with senior advisor Jared Kushner — the husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka — heading the effort.
