King Abdullah and Trump
King Abdullah and TrumpReuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his commitment to achieving a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Speaking at a press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Trump said, “I'm working very, very hard on trying to finally create peace between the Palestinians and Israel, and I think we'll be successful. I hope to be successful, I can tell you that.”

“The King has been a really tireless advocate for a solution, and he's going to help me with that and help me at the highest level. And we will be consulting with him closely in the days ahead,” added Trump.

The Jordanian King said that the Israeli-PA conflict “is essentially the core conflict in our region.”

“The President’s early engagement as beginning in bringing the Palestinians and Israelis together has been a very encouraging sign for all of us. And I think, sir, it was that initiative that allowed us at the Arab Summit last week to extend through the Arab Peace Initiative the message of peace to Israel, which we all hopefully will work together to make that come about,” he continued.

“All Arab countries -- we launched the Arab Peace Initiative, as I said, last week. It offers a historic reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as all member states of the Arab League. It is the most comprehensive framework for lasting peace and it ensures statehood for the Palestinians, but also security, acceptance and normal ties for Israel with all Arab countries and hopefully all Islamic countries,” added King Abdullah.

King Abdullah spoke at the Arab Summit in Jordan a week ago and said that peace would not be attained in the Middle East without the creation of a Palestinian state under a two-state solution.

At the summit, leaders of Arab countries backed a peace agreement with Israel on the basis of the 2002 Arab peace initiative.

The Arab peace initiative, unveiled in 2002 and re-endorsed at the 2007 Arab League summit, says that 22 Arab countries will normalize ties with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria.

Israel to date has rejected the plan due to the fact that it calls for Israel to accept the so-called "right of return" for millions of descendants of Arabs who fled pre-state Israel, effectively bringing an end to the Jewish state.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir last year said the initiative is the best solution for the conflict, and rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's demand that the initiative be updated.