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Trump Asks Netanyahu for ‘Fundamental Change’ towards Peace | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Reuters)


Tel Aviv – US President Donald Trump, who visited Israel on Monday and met with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, said there is a “rare opportunity” to bring security to the region, defeat terror and create harmony and peace.

While at a dinner banquet with the Israeli prime minister, Trump asked him to produce a “fundamental” change in moving towards the peace operation.

Trump would later sit down with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Tuesday.

On Monday, the US President spoke about a partnership to counter Iran and said that Washington would not allow Tehran to develop its nuclear weapons.

Before meeting with Netanyahu, Trump participated in a bilateral meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall.

According to diplomatic sources, Trump tackled in Israel four main issues: the Iranian file, bilateral relations, combating terrorism and the Palestinian file.

During his visit on Monday, Trump said: “We are willing to work together. I believe that a new level of partnership is possible and will happen — one that will bring greater safety to this region, greater security to the United States, and greater prosperity to the world.”

The US President also said the battle against Iran needs an immense regional alliance.

Trump added there was opportunities for cooperation across the Middle East, “that includes advancing prosperity, defeating the evils of terrorism and facing the threat of an Iranian regime that is threatening the region and causing so much violence and suffering.”

He said that leaders of the Arab and Muslim world voiced concerns about ISIS, about Iran’s rising ambitions and about the menace of extremism that has spread through too many parts of the Muslim world.

“I’m encouraged that they pledge cooperation to confront terrorism and the hateful ideology that drives it so hard,” Trump said.

Trump arrived in Israel on Monday after a weekend trip to Saudi Arabia where he met Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz. He signed a number of agreements with Saudi leaders and attended the Arab-Islamic-US summit that vowed to confront Iran’s expansionist agenda in the region.