Media caption is Palestinian. -Israel peace plan out of reach? The Palestinians broke off contacts with the Trump administration in December , after Mr Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israeli capital and move the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv.
Since then, the US has ended both bilateral aid for Palestinians and contributions for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
In November, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US had abandoned its four-decades-old position that Jewish settlements in the West Bank were inconsistent with international law.
What are the issues at stake?
Of all the conflicts in the Middle East, that between Israel and the Palestinians has been the most intractable. Although the two sides signed a peace accord in , more than a quarter of a century on they are arguably as far apart as ever.
Jerusalem: Both Israel and the Palestinians hold competing claims to the city. Israel, which occupied the formerly Jordanian-held eastern part in 1967, regards the whole of Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem – home to about 350, of their community – as their future capital
Palestinian statehood: The Palestinians want an independent state of their own, comprising the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Israeli prime ministers have publicly accepted the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – but not what form it should take. Benjamin Netanyahu has said any Palestinian state should be demilitarized with the powers to govern itself but not to threaten Israel.
Recognition: Israel insists that any Peace deal must include Palestinian recognition of it as the “nation-state of the Jewish people”, arguing that without this Palestinians will continue to press their own national claims to the land, causing the conflict to endure. The Palestinians say what Israel calls itself is its own business, but to recognize it as the Jewish state will discriminate against Israeli Arab population of Palestinian origin, who are Muslims, Christians and Druze.
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