US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House (Photo: REUTERS)

Trump said this is a big step towards peace. He said young people across the Middle East are ready for a more hopeful future, and governments throughout the region are realizing that terrorism and Islamic extremism are everyone’s common enemy. Under this vision, Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided capital. 

Trump’s plan has received mixed reactions from regional countries. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the plan saying that a practical way to long-lasting peace. Meanwhile, Palestinians resolutely rejected the plan and criticized Trump for biasing Israel. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the only path to a comprehensive and lasting Middle East peace was the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 border, and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement to support measures to restore to the Palestinian people their full legitimate rights through the establishment of a sovereign independent state in the Palestinian occupied territories. Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this is an annexation plan aiming to destroy the two-state solution and seize the Palestinian territories.

Congressional Democrats offered varying responses to President Trump’s Middle East peace plan. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi supports the Trump administration’s proposal and said that it’s necessary to be optimistic about peace in the Middle East. Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the plan, arguing it offered no real future for a Palestinian state. She said she would oppose any plan that, like Trump's, was not crafted with Palestinian negotiators at the table.