The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternative Prime Minister Benny Gantz should not unilaterally annex any land, Blue and White Agriculture Minister Alon Schuster told The Jerusalem Post late Sunday night.
Schuster said he was speaking for himself and was not aware if his party's leaders, Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, agreed. Schuster requested an explanation of their views in a Blue and White faction meeting whenever the final version of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan will be revealed.On Monday afternoon, Gantz and Ashkenazi were meeting with Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman for the second straight day in an attempt to reach an agreement on what exactly Israel will annex in July.
“In principle, what matters is not what Trump wants but what we want,” Schuster said. “In Blue and White, we want the Jordan Valley and the settlement blocs, but there must be a permanent agreement and not a partial one – and not with confrontation.”
Schuster said he understood the point of view of those who support taking steps while Trump is president. But he said that was not a reason to take steps that Israel would regret taking later.
“Unilateral annexation would be dangerous for the state’s diplomatic, security and economic future,” he warned. “It would endanger my kids and endanger peace with Egypt and Jordan and relations with Gulf States. It is wrong to do it without consensus. I don’t support unilateral steps, period.”
Schuster said he did not have a problem with the initial version of the Trump plan that was revealed, which called for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that required both sides to make concessions to each other. He said, however, that he opposes Israel taking what it would be getting in the deal and not doing its part by giving what it is supposed to give.
Although he is considered among Blue and White’s most dovish ministers, he does see a benefit in applying sovereignty.
“We need to develop the Jordan Valley and bring more water there, and sovereignty could help with that,” he said. "But it would be absurd and dangerous to be the kind of democracy we don’t want to be and have to choose between losing the democratic or Jewish nature of the state.”
Schuster would not answer the question that former Blue and White partner and current opposition leader Yair Lapid asks every Blue and White minister: If you don’t get your way, what are you going to do about it? Lapid has dared Blue and White ministers to quit their posts and join the opposition.
“I don’t want to threaten or say something I can’t cover,” he said. “We will wait and see. I like thinking long-term in general – but on this, it is better to take it moment to moment.”
Asked if he was ready to quit the Knesset in order to implement the controversial Expanded Norwegian Law, he said he would do whatever he is asked to do.