Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said President Donald Trump’s optimism on reaching a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians was not likely to happen.
Rubio said, “I think it is a noble endeavor. Every American president has tried it and there is a reason it doesn’t happen. Let me say the Israelis would love to have peace. The fundament problem we have here is the definition of peace. How do you define peace? If peace means Israel can no longer retain their nature as a Jewish state or give up control of Jerusalem, if that’s peace, that’s not going to happen.”
He added, “From the Palestinian leadership’s perspective, I don’t think their definition of peace fits within what most of us at least here in Congress and in the United States would define as peace. And that’s always been a problem. And I think it is a very noble endeavor. I think the White House and the president need to be careful in an effort to make things better we end up making things worse. It is my view the conditions for the sort of peace we all desire do not exist and therefore we need to try to begin to create those conditions, more prosperity, more security in Judea and Samaria and then ultimately reach a point where there is the opportunity to go further. But again I hope I’m wrong. I hope there is an agreement that everyone can live with. I truly do. But I’m not very optimistic.”
(h/t The Hill)
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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