President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday expressed hope US President-elect Joe Biden could help "restore confidence" between Israelis and Palestinians in an effort to finally reach peace between the two sides.
Speaking on Thursday with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an American think tank, Rivlin began by stressing the importance of the US-Israel relationship, regardless of partisan politics.
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"We know that the friendship between Americans and Israelis goes beyond politics," Rivlin said.
In what his first long-form interview since Biden's defeat of incumbent President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election, Rivlin announced he had extended an invitation to the president-elect to visit Israel.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rivlin said that "from time to time we have differences of opinion, also with the American administration, on the real understanding of the meaning of two states for two peoples.
"We have to find a way in order to understand – we are not doomed to live together, it is our destiny, we are destined to live together," Rivlin said.
"We can say two states for two people, one state for all the people, federation, confederation, we can do a lot – but first of all we have to build confidence."
In a phone call earlier this week, Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the Democratic president-elect on his election victory.
According to the Prime Minister's Office, Biden agreed to meet with Israeli leaders "in the near future to discuss the many issues at stake, and reiterated the need to continue to strengthen the strong alliance between the United States and Israel."
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