Trump said this Wednesday when he played host to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House.
Trump's long-shot effort to bring Middle East peace got off to a rocky start when he renounced support for a Palestinian state and vowed to move the USA embassy to Jerusalem, breaking two tenets of American policy held for decades. "I thought for a while the two-state looked like the easier of the two, but honestly if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like the best", Trump said.
Despite that, Mr Abbas was nearly effusive in his faith in Mr Trump, saying that the Palestinian people are "capable, under your stewardship.and great negotiating ability" to be true partners with the US.
Standing alongside the USA president in the Roosevelt Room to address reporters, Abbas, speaking in Arabic, said he believed the parties are capable under Trump's "courageous stewardship and great negotiating ability" to bring about "a historic peace treaty".
Peace talks have repeatedly failed to resolve the decades-old conflict.
He said he is prepared to act as a mediator, facilitator or arbitrator between the two sides.
In an Israel Independence Day message, U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said President Donald Trump's disruptive approach to governing coupled with the rise of the Islamic State presented new opportunities for regional peace.
However, he stopped short of explicitly re-committing the U.S. administration to a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.
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President Abbas said that their strategic option and choice is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-state, a Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967.
Trump faced deep skepticism at home and overseas over his chances for a breakthrough with Abbas, not least because the new USA administration has yet to articulate a cohesive strategy for restarting the moribund peace process.
Successive presidents have declined to do so despite having congressional authorization under the Jerusalem Embassy Act, warning that the move could endanger US security and potentially upend peace talks between Israel and Palestine.
"It is about time for Israel to end its occupation of our people and our land", a reference to Jewish settlement building in the West Bank. It was part of the vigorous dose of optimism on display as Trump and Abbas showered each other with praise.
Abbas also called for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital - a day after Vice President Mike Pence said that the US was giving serious consideration to recognizing Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, as the capital of Israel.
Trump has put some of his closest advisors on the issue, including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his long-time legal advisor and confidante, Jason Greenblatt, who is now the White House's chief Middle East negotiator. It said United States and Israeli officials have declined to confirm the trip. "It's been a long time, but we will be working diligently".
But on Wednesday, Abbas made one thing clear - he is not equally content with a one- or two-state solution.
Several U.S. presidents before Trump have come into office expressing confidence that they were the ones who would finally bring peace to the region. "I'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit", Trump told Netanyahu, even though the Israeli leader said he doesn't see settlements as the "core of the problem".
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