The term "two-state solution" is especially fraught for Benjamin Netanyahu because many Israelis believe that granting Palestinians a state does not guarantee peace. | Getty Trump won't insist on 2-state solution for Israel

President Donald Trump set the table for Wednesday's meeting with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu by making it clear the U.S. will not insist on a two-state solution in the Middle East.

After the Obama administration's unsuccessful efforts to broker a lasting peace between Israel and Palestinians, a senior White House official made it clear in a briefing Tuesday evening that the Trump administration is open to a two-state solution, would defer to the principals.


"It's something the two sides have to agree to. It's not for us to impose that vision," the official said. "We're looking at the two sides to come together to make peace together and we'll be there to help them,"

"A two-state solution that doesn't bring peace is not our goal that anybody wants to achieve," the official continued. "Peace is the goal, whether it comes in the form of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want or something else, if that's what the parties want, we're going to help them."

The delicate and deferential statement is a sign that the Trump administration places high value on getting off on the right foot with Israel after a number of diplomatic missteps in its first month in office. In Israel, the term "two-state solution" is especially fraught for Netanyahu because many conservatives believe it ignores that Israeli statehood is already established and that granting Palestinian statehood is no guarantee of peace. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine Palestinians signing off on a deal that doesn't include statehood.

Netanyahu, who frequently clashed with the Obama administration, will be the fourth foreign leader to meet with Trump at the White House. A bilateral meeting with Mexico's president was canceled after Trump inflamed tensions by signing an executive order directing the construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border.

Trump has backed away from another campaign promise to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after recognizing that doing so, however enthralled conservatives may be with the idea, is laden with diplomatic complexities. That topic is among those likely to be discussed, the White House official said, as well as the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran that both Trump and Netanyahu have opposed.

Also on the table, the recent United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements. Trump's U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has criticized the resolution while also expressing general opposition to the Jewish settlements themselves, which, she stated during her confirmation hearing, "can hinder peace."

Trump and Netanyahu will hold a brief press conference at noon in the East Room, before their meeting in the Oval Office.