Palestinian president to meet with Trump at White House next month

The White House announced that Trump and Mahmoud Abbas will be meeting about peace in the Middle East

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is visiting President Trump at the White House on May 3, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced Wednesday.

The two will “reaffirm the commitment” of the U.S. and Palestinian leadership to “pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel,” Spicer said at Wednesday’s White House briefing.

President Trump broke with longtime U.S. policy in February when he withheld clear support for an independent Palestine, saying he could endorse a one-nation solution to the conflict.

During a press conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, “I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like.”

But Mr. Trump also has asked Israel to “hold off” on Jewish settlement construction in territory the Palestinians claim for their future state.