Donald Trump on Israel-Palestine rift: 'I can put both sides together'
Property magnate Donald Trump said Thursday that he would be excited to make a "deal" to end the rift between Israel and Palestine should he win the 2016 presidential race.
"There's probably no tougher deal. If I could do that, it would make me so happy," the Republican front-runner said.
"Because there's so much violence, so much death — and it's been going on for so many years," Trump added.
Trump was one of many presidential candidates speaking Thursday at a presidential forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, DC.
The billionaire businessman said he wasn't sure if the Israeli and Palestinian sides were willing to make the sacrifices necessary for a peace agreement. But he said he would know within six months whether that deal could be struck.
"Because I'm a dealmaker I believe that I can put both sides together," he said, recalling a foreign-policy interview he did the day before with The Associated Press.
"But I said it'll take six months ... maybe sooner," he told the audience. "Because with us, we have a deal instinct — a lot of us. And you walk into a room, you can tell almost like in two seconds whether or not you're going to make a deal. I will know very quickly whether or not I'll be able to put that deal together."
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Trump said he wouldn't go into specifics, however, in order to give him the edge as he negotiates with Israel and Palestine.
"I don't like to, as a dealmaker, give away a lot of cards by talking about how I feel about this or that. I'd rather save it for that moment when you walk into the room," he explained.
He nevertheless vowed to give it his best effort.
"Wouldn't it be great if they could make a deal?" he asked. "But a lasting deal, a real deal — not a phony deal that's going to last a week and then bad things start happening again. ... I think it would be a great thing actually for both sides if a real deal could be made. And I'm going to give it my best."
Trump added: "I'm a great dealmaker. That's what I do. I've made a lot of money."
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