Deputy Minister in charge of Public Diplomacy and former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, sat down withfArutz Sheva to speak about to the prime minister's impending visit to Washington to meet with US president Donald Trump.
Oren said that "every first meeting between an Israeli prime minister and a new American president is interesting, moving and historic. The meeting will take place during a period of instability and violence in the Middle East, as well as considerable challenges faced by Israel in the security and political arenas and especially with regard to the Iranian nuclear program."
He added that "the hope and expectation is that we will raise these issues and deal with them. Our hope is that the Palestinians will come back to the negotiating table without preconditions in order to talk with us and advance towards an agreement which will be based on two states for two nations."
Recently the prime minister has been speaking less about a two-state solution.
"I don't know what the prime minister said. Our goal and desire is to return to direct talks without any preconditions in order to achieve a solution based on two states for two nations. This however is at present unacceptable to any Palestinian."