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Trump Suggests Two-State Solution No Longer Viable, Bucking Longtime US Policy Position
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, April 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
Former US President Donald Trump has suggested he no longer believes in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a significant pivot away from what has largely been a consensus position on the conflict among US politicians for decades.
“There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough,” Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that was published on Tuesday.
“I also think you have fewer people that liked the idea,” he added. “You had a lot of people that liked the idea four years ago. Today, you have far fewer people that like that idea.”
The reason, Trump claimed, is that Palestinian “children grow up and they’re taught to hate Jewish people at a level that nobody thought was possible.”
Palestinian textbooks in both Gaza and the West Bank have come under fire for teaching children in school to hate Israel while fostering antisemitism and support for terrorism.
Trump explained that the late Sheldon Adelson — a major donor to Republican and Israel-related causes — had made a similar argument to him in the past, but the former president did not always buy it.
“And I had a friend, a very good friend, Sheldon Adelson, who felt that it was impossible to make a deal because the level of hatred was so great. And I think it was much more so on one side than the other, but the level of hatred of Jewish people was so great, and taught from the time they were in kindergarten and before,” Trump said.
Asked if he felt that same way, Trump said, “I disagreed with it. But so far, he [Adelson] hasn’t been wrong.”
The Biden administration has been a stalwart supporter of the two-state solution. During his State of the Union address earlier this year, US President Joe Biden said, “As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution.”
“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy,” he argued. “There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity. There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.”
Similarly, a group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to Biden in March calling on him to “reignite US leadership on a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” by releasing a “bold, public framework” for establishing and recognizing a “nonmilitarized Palestinian state” after the war against Hamas in Gaza is over.
On the other hand, Sam Markstein, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s national political director, told The Algemeiner that Trump “clearly agrees with us that it’s a terrible mistake for the Biden administration to be pushing Israel to accede to the establishment of a Palestinian state while there’s a war on and there’s no genuinely peace-minded Palestinian leaders to put in charge of such a state.”
The proportion of Israelis who support a two-state solution has declined from 61 percent in 2012 to only 25 percent in 2023, according to Gallup. Meanwhile, support among Palestinians last year declined to 24 percent, down from a high of 59 percent in 2012. Young Israelis and Palestinians are less likely to support a two-state solution than their older counterparts.
However, it remains unclear whether there is a credible alternative to the two-state solution as an end-game in the conflict that would not disenfranchise or displace either Israelis or Palestinians.
Trump’s latest comments add to growing uncertainty over how he may approach policy regarding Israel in a possible second term. Last month, he deflected when asked if he supported Israel “100 percent.” He also said Israel had to “finish up your war” against the Hamas terror group and “get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel, and for everybody else.”
In the Time interview, Trump also argued that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “rightfully has been criticized for what took place on Oct. 7” and that he has not taken proper action to secure the release of the hostages.
Hamas launched the current war with its Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, where Palestinian terrorists massacred 1,200 people and kidnapped 253 others as hostages, taking them back to Gaza.
“You know, they talk about all of these hostages. I don’t believe these people are able or even wanting to take care of people as negotiations. I don’t — I think the hostages are going to be far fewer than people think, which is a very sad thing,” Trump said.
The post Trump Suggests Two-State Solution No Longer Viable, Bucking Longtime US Policy Position first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.