Presidents Mahmoud Abbas and Donald Trump said Wednesday that they are committed to work together to reach a historic peace deal between the Palestinians and Israelis.
US President Donald Trump has welcomed Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to the White House to discuss ways to resume the Palestinian-Israeli political process.
Trump asserted that "any agreement can not be imposed by the United States or by any other nation", and that it was up to Israel and the Palestinians to work out peace between themselves.
"We will get it done", Trump said, flaunting his deal-making prowess during a first meeting with the veteran Palestinian leader that marked the start of an ambitious - some say quixotic - presidential effort.
Despite that, Mr Abbas was nearly effusive in his faith in Mr Trump, saying that the Palestinian people are "capable, under your stewardship.and great negotiating ability" to be true partners with the US.
"It was on these grounds that President Abbas stood with a courageous peacemaker, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin".
For his part, Abbas echoed the hope for peace, stipulating peace "based on the vision of the two-state" solution, with Palestine's capital in East Jerusalem.
In neither the joint 15-minute appearance in the Roosevelt Room nor photo opportunities in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room before and after did Trump address the "two-state" solution that presidents going back to Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1990s have supported.
"Mr. President, it's about time for Israel to end its occupation of our people and of our land", Abbas said, referring to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank under Israeli control.
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Trump reiterated the need for Israelis and Palestinians to broker a peace through direct negotiations and called on Palestinian leaders to "speak in a unified voice against incitement to violence and hate".
Abbas assured Trump that Palestinians "are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace".
Abbas expressed hope that a peace deal could be reached during the Trump administration and applauded the president's "great negotiating ability".
Abbas called for a two-state solution, which would establish an independent Palestinian nation alongside Israel. And if you believe the Times of Israel's founding editor David Horovitz, you will think it all went down so well for Abbas, that Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu will have some very sleepless nights.
Israel has rejected a return to the 1967 borders, the territorial lines drawn before the Six Day War.
The leaders did not take questions from reporters.
"If Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like the best", he said, standing next to Netanyahu.
In late December 2016 during the waning moments of the Obama administration, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel's settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, US Vice President Mike Pence said that "serious consideration" was still being given to the embassy move.
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