The prime minister said the matter is currently in the Trump administration’s hands.
By LAHAV HARKOV, TOVAH LAZAROFF, OMRI NAHMIASSigns abour annexation with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are displayed in Israel(photo credit: COURTESY YESHA COUNCIL)
Israel may still apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Likud faction meeting on Monday.“It has not been taken off the agenda,” Netanyahu told Likud MKs. “The option still exists.”The prime minister said the matter is currently in the Trump administration’s hands.The coalition agreement between Blue and White set July 1 as the earliest possible date at which Netanyahu could bring extending Israeli sovereignty, in accordance with the Trump administration’s peace plan, to a vote.US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations Avi Berkowitz was in Israel ahead of July 1 to meet with Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and others. The Trump administration has not yet announced a position on the matter of sovereignty since.A source familiar with the discussions in the US told The Jerusalem Post: “Post-Berkowitz’s trip to the region, the team has continued to work on the details but do not have an update at the moment.”“Berkowitz has been working on a few options, but it is unclear if the president has been briefed on these options,” the person added.The Trump peace plan would allow Israel to apply its law to 30% of the West Bank, including all settlements and the Jordan Valley. The rest would be designated for an eventual Palestinian state, which would receive recognition and a massive aid package from the US if it meets a list of pre-conditions, including demilitarization, stopping incitement and salaries for terrorists.Diplomatic sources in the US and Israel have said that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken much of the governments’ time and energy, and that enacting the Trump peace plan is low on their agendas at this time.However, Israelis involved in the matter have sought to push sovereignty moves this summer, ahead of the November presidential election in the US.David Elhayani, who heads both the Yesha Council and the Jordan Valley Regional Council, immediately responded to Netanyahu’s remarks by calling on him to apply sovereignty to the West Bank settlements independently of Washington or any US peace plan.He recalled that Netanyahu had made such a pledge prior to the publication of US President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century” at the end of January, but had never executed that pledge.“Mr. Prime Minister, the person who promised time and again to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley cannot be found in Washington but in Jerusalem. This is your decision alone and you [are the one who] must do this. Keep your promise and Israeli sovereignty in that region as soon as possible,” Elhayani said.Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan hosted MK Uriel Busso (Shas), to emphasize to him the importance of the immediate application of sovereignty irrespective of the Trump plan. Such an application, he said, should be first and foremost in the minds of all Knesset members.Last week he hosted MK Yitzhak Pindrus (UTJ) and MK Eti Atiah (Likud).Last Thursday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah al Saud met in Paris. The French readout of the meeting said that Le Drian “underscored the risks of a partial annexation of the West Bank and reaffirmed the importance of the collective mobilization of EU member states together with Arab states.”The Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry, however, simply tweeted that “views were exchanged regarding developments in the region.”
