Donald Trump says he would know within the first six months of his presidency if a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians would be possible.
“I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it,” the Republican front-runner said in an interview with the Associated Press published Thursday. He said his concerns are greater regarding “one side in particular,” and indicated that he was referring to Israel.
“A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal, whether or not Israel’s willing to sacrifice certain things,” Trump said. “They may not be, and I understand that, and I’m OK with that. But then you’re just not going to have a deal.”
“If I win, I’ll let you know six months from the time I take office,” the billionaire businessman added, saying a peace deal to end the conflict in the region is “something I’d really like to do.”
Getting a deal done “would be a really great achievement,” he said, noting how dire the situation is because of “so much death, so much turmoil, so much hatred.”
Trump, who declined to outline specific conditions for a deal, indicated he would travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “sometime after Christmas, probably.” When asked about a two-state solution, Trump said he was “not going to even say that.”
“I’m leading in every single poll in every single state, in every single national poll,” Trump said of his knowledge of how serious and complex the negotiations between Israeli and the Palestinians would be. “I could be in a position where I want to negotiate that.”
Trump and 13 other Republican presidential candidates are set to address the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington on Thursday. Trump leads the Republican field, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls, with 28.3 percent.
