Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

The leftist advocacy group J Street on Thursday attacked the Trump administration for refusing to endorse a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict.

In a statement sent by email and quoted by Haaretz, J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said that by taking up such a stance, the administration was hurting its own efforts to reach peace.

He was responding to comments made on Wednesday by State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who said that committing to a two-state solution would “bias” the outcome of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“We want to work toward a peace that both sides can agree to and that both sides find sustainable. We believe that both parties should be able to find a workable solution that works for both of them.”

Therefore, she continued, “We are not going to state what the outcome has to be. It has to be workable to both sides. And I think, really, that’s the best view as to not really bias one side over the other, to make sure that they can work through it. It’s been many, many decades, as you well know, that the parties have not been able to come to any kind of good agreement and sustainable solution to this. So we leave it up to them to be able to work that through.”

The State Department spokeswoman "displayed dangerous ignorance about the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what it will take to end it," Ben-Ami claimed, according to Haaretz.

"The Trump administration has spoken often of its desire to broker a comprehensive and transformative peace agreement in the Middle East. Early steps taken by the special envoy and others suggested a real interest in constructing a viable approach to achieving that objective. But there is no way to accomplish that goal without a two-state solution," he added.

The J Street lobby promotes the policy of the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria and the labelling of Jewish goods from the region.

The statement came as Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, visited the Middle East as part of the push to resume talks.

Kushner on Thursday met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In a joint video message with Kushner, Netanyahu thanked President Trump and the delegation led by Kushner and special White House envoy Jason Greenblatt for their efforts to pursue peace and stability in the region.

Later on Thursday, Kushner met with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who said he highly appreciated Trump's peace efforts.

The meeting between Abbas and Kushner came amid expressions of pessimism by PA officials that Washington's peace efforts could bear fruit.

Ahmed Majdalani, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which Abbas heads, told AFP on Wednesday they were demanding "a clear and frank answer on the position of the administration on the two-state solution and settlements."

"Without a clear American commitment to the two-state solution and stopping settlements and ending the occupation, we don't expect much from this administration," he added.