Trump: Middle East peace plan likely rolled out in days

Trump made the comments to reporters on Air Force One. (AP)
Short Url
  • Said his administration talked briefly to the Palestinians
  • Plan is expected to strongly favor Israel

JERUSALEM: President Donald Trump said Thursday that he鈥檒l likely release the long-awaited White House Mideast peace plan before his meeting early next week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main political rival Benny Gantz.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great plan. It鈥檚 a plan that really would work,鈥� Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to a Republican Party meeting in Florida.
He said he was surprised that both Netanyahu and Gantz were willing to take a break from campaigning for the March 2 elections to join him Tuesday in Washington.
鈥淭hey both would like to do the deal. They want to see peace,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淟ook, Israel wants peace, Palestinians want peace. They all want peace. Not everyone wants to say it.鈥�
He said his administration has talked briefly to the Palestinians, who have rejected the administration鈥檚 peace plan before it even comes out.
鈥淲e鈥檝e spoken to them briefly. But we will speak to them in a period of time,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淎nd they have a lot of incentive to do it. I鈥檓 sure they maybe will react negatively at first, but it鈥檚 actually very positive to them.鈥�
Vice President Mike Pence announced the invitation for Netanyahu and Gantz to visit during at a meeting with the prime minister in Jerusalem after addressing an international forum Thursday on the Holocaust. He said that at Netanyahu鈥檚 request, the invitation was also issued to Gantz, a former army chief.
The plan is expected to strongly favor Israel, and is unlikely to garner any international support if it is seen as undermining the prospect of a two-state solution.
鈥淲e have had no better friend than President Trump,鈥� Netanyahu said. 鈥淲ith this invitation, I think that the president is seeking to give Israel the peace and security that it deserves.鈥�
The Palestinians rejected Trump鈥檚 peace efforts after he recognized disputed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US Embassy there in May 2018. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 war and annexed, to be their capital.
鈥淚f this deal is announced with these rejected formulas, the leadership will announce a series of measures in which we safeguard our legitimate rights, and we will demand Israel assume its full responsibilities as an occupying power,鈥� said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
He appeared to be referring to oft-repeated threats to dissolve the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. That would force Israel to resume responsibility for providing basic services to millions of Palestinians.
鈥淲e warn Israel and the US administration from crossing the red lines,鈥� Abu Rdeneh said.
Israel鈥檚 Channel 12 TV, citing Israeli officials, said the plan is expected to be extremely favorable toward Israel and offer it control over large parts of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians seek the entire territory, which was also captured by Israel in 1967, as the heartland of a future independent state. Most of the international community supports the Palestinian position.
Netanyahu has said he plans to annex the Jordan Valley as well as Jewish settlements across the West Bank, which would all but extinguish any possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has tried to make that the cornerstone of his campaign for reelection following unprecedented back-to-back elections last year that left him in a virtual tie with Gantz, with neither able to cobble together a ruling coalition.
The deadlock was deepened by Netanyahu鈥檚 indictment last year on serious charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust stemming from three long-running corruption investigations. Netanyahu has asked Israel鈥檚 parliament to grant him immunity.
Next week鈥檚 meeting could produce an awkward scene. Gantz has made Netanyahu鈥檚 indictment the focus of his campaign to oust the prime minister. And his Blue and White party is leading an effort in parliament to block Netanyahu鈥檚 immunity request before the election. At the same time, they will be joined by an impeached president who is being tried in the Senate.
The US was believed to be holding back on releasing the peace plan until Israel had a permanent government. Those calculations may have changed as the deadlock in Israeli politics looks to be further prolonged.
Trump may also be looking for a boost from evangelical and pro-Israel supporters as the Senate weighs whether to remove him from office after he was impeached last month, and as he gears up for a reelection battle this year.
Pence was among dozens of world leaders in Jerusalem on Thursday for the World Holocaust Forum. Many of the participants, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron, also paid visits to the Palestinians in the West Bank.
A Palestinian official said Abbas asked the visiting French and Russian presidents to support the Palestinian position when the plan is published.
鈥淗e asked them to refuse and act against any Israeli annexation of Palestinian lands,鈥� said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing closed meetings.
While the plan is expected to be friendly to Israel, it could still face opposition from Netanyahu鈥檚 hard-line partners.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the ultranationalist Yamina party, called Trump a 鈥渢rue friend鈥� of Israel and said the country likely stands before a 鈥渉istoric opportunity.鈥� But he said his party would not allow the transfer of any land to Palestinian control or for a Palestinian state to be established.