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WASHINGTON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to visit the White House soon and told the Palestinian leader that he believes the time has come to make a deal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the White House said.
In his first phone call with Abbas since he took office, Trump emphasized his "personal belief that peace is possible," according to a White House statement.
"The President noted that such a deal would not only give Israelis and Palestinians the peace and security they deserve, but that it would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world," said the statement.
According to official Palestinian News Agency WAFA, Abbas reiterated to Trump his commitment to peace as a strategic choice to establish the Palestinian state living side by side with the state of Israel.
The White House statement also emphasized the long-lasting U.S. stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that a peace agreement must be negotiated directly between Israel and Palestine.
That took an indirect jab at a UN resolution passed last December that demanded Israel stop building settlements on occupied Palestinian territory to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.
Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, let pass that resolution in a major departure from the U.S. tradition of shielding Israel from UN reproaches despite then President-elect Trump's adamant opposition.
