Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would support Israel annexing parts of the West Bank, says his senior official on such policy matters. In an interview with Haaretz, senior adviser David Friedman said a President Trump would retreat from the two-state solution policy goals set by predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush, in favor of unlimited expansion of Israeli settlements and deference to Jewish state on whether Palestine may govern itself. “If the Israelis don’t want to do it, he doesn’t think they should do it,” Friedman said of Trump’s view on whether Israel should cede land to the Palestinians. “He does not think it is an American imperative for it to be an independent Palestinian state.” Friedman also said that Trump would support the Israeli annexation of portions of the West Bank: “I think there are parts of the West Bank that will stay part of Israel in any peace deal. I am sure he wouldn’t have any problem with that at all. Regarding the entire West Bank I think that’s a legal issue. I don’t think he will have a problem with that but he would expect Israel to continue seeking peace. He has no doubt that Israel wants peace.”