Trump: I’m going to the Middle East on Sunday; no one will be forced to leave Gaza.
US President Donald Trump announced the dates of his Middle East trip on Thursday local time during a meeting with the President of Finland at the White House, adding that he would travel to Egypt to “officially sign” part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
He also said that he had been invited to speak at the Israeli Knesset and that he would accept the invitation.
The speaker of the Israeli Knesset has formally invited Trump to speak at the Tel Aviv parliament in appreciation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Amir Ohana said that this would be the first speech by a US president since then-President George W. Bush visited Israel in 2008.
In his invitation to Trump, he wrote: “The people of Israel consider you the greatest friend and ally of the Jewish people in modern history.”
Ohana also cited decisions made during Trump’s first term to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War, and his mediation of the Abraham Accords, in which four Arab countries established relations with Israel.
Trump claims: No one will be forced to leave Gaza
Trump has previously floated plans to forcibly displace Gaza residents, but now claims that under the current framework, which is the first phase of the deal agreed upon by Israel and Hamas, no Palestinians will be forced to leave Gaza.
The U.S. president also claimed in a meeting with the Finnish president: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza.”
Trump refuses to elaborate on the two-state solution
When asked about an element of his peace proposal that suggests there could eventually be a path to a Palestinian state if the “conditions” are met, Trump said, “We’ll see how things go.”
“There’s a point where we might do something a little different and very positive for everybody. But we’ll get to that at that time,” the US president said.
Trump added that he hopes things will progress to that point, adding, “I think we’ll get to that point.”
Trump to Finnish President: America is the greatest country in the world
During a meeting with the Finnish president, Trump claimed that the United States is the “greatest country in the world” in terms of land area. “We have a lot of territory, more than any other country,” he said.
The US president went on to mention his country’s need for icebreaking equipment, adding, “We need Finland’s icebreakers a lot.”
Trump also said he has no plans to withdraw US troops from Europe, but may relocate them to different locations
Finnish President Congratulates Trump on Israel-Hamas Agreement
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in a meeting with Trump in the presence of the media, praised the US president’s role in reaching the agreement between Israel and Hamas, calling it a “historic agreement.”
“I think this is a historic agreement. I’ve gone through 20 points of it. It’s almost like a perfect record. All the key elements are there,” Stubb told Trump.
“If someone had said a few weeks ago that you and your team could get us to a point where there would be a ceasefire, a prisoner exchange, and then a withdrawal, I wouldn’t have believed it. But this is diplomacy at its best, and I think this agreement has tremendous potential. “So, congratulations.”