Seek peace or risk aid: Trump to Palestine

DONALD Trump has accused Palestine of “disrespecting” the United States and he has asked the state to make a big decision.

DONALD Trump has threatened to withhold “hundreds of millions of dollars”’ in aid and support to the Palestinians if they refused to pursue peace with Israel.

And Mr Trump accused Palestine of “disrespecting” the United States by not meeting Vice President Mike Pence during a recent visit.

The Palestinian leadership shunned Mr Pence’s trip to the region after Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and vowed to begin moving the US embassy to the city.

The move sparked condemnation from Arab leaders and worldwide criticism.

Mr Trump told the Palestinians they must come to the negotiating table. Source: UNRWA, via AP.

It also broke with decades of US policy that the city’s status must be decided in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

But speaking after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said: “We give them (Palestine) hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands.

“That money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace.”

Mr Netanyahu insisted there was no substitute for a US-brokered peace deal between Israel and Palestine, adding: “As a facilitator, there’s no other international body that would do it.”

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States had taken itself “off the table” as a peace mediator since it recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

But Mr Trump told the Palestinians they must come to the negotiating table.

Mahmoud Abbas said the United States had taken itself “off the table” as a peace mediator. Source: AFP.

“Because I can tell you that Israel does want to make peace and they’re going to have to want to make peace too or we’re going to have nothing to do with them any longer,” the president said.

Mr Trump said his administration’s peace plans were a “great proposal for Palestinians” which covered “a lot of the things that were over the years discussed or agreed on”.

He added that his declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital took it off the negotiating table, adding “they’ll do something that will be a very good thing” without elaborating.