Trump administration has not given Israel any annexation guidelines

US frustration with settler demands grows.

By LAHAV HARKOV, TOVAH LAZAROFF
EFRAT. IS it time to annex this Gush Etzion community? (photo credit: REUTERS)
EFRAT. IS it time to annex this Gush Etzion community?
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel has given the US multiple options as to where it would apply its sovereignty in the West Bank, but the Trump administration has not chosen one, The Jerusalem Post learned on Wednesday.
Beyond the “conceptual map” in US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, released in late January, the US has not given Israel any guidelines on how to proceed, which it will not do without full support from the Trump administration.
That map, which shows Israel applying its laws to 30% of the West Bank – including all settlements and the Jordan Valley – is not detailed, or as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it in an interview with Makor Rishon last week, it is “at the scale of a globe.”
“It gave a central idea, it must be filled with details, and that is exactly what we’re doing,” Netanyahu said.
The American side of the US-Israel mapping committee has repeatedly said Israel is the one that needs to make a decision.
During his visit to Israel last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “”The Israeli government will decide on the matter, on exactly when and how to do it.”
But the Israeli side of the joint team has produced dozens of maps, and the American side has not decided yet.
The mapping team consists of US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; his adviser, Aryeh Lightstone; and C. Scott Leith of the US National Security Council, as well as Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, acting director of the Prime Minister’s Office Ronen Peretz and Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin.
The coalition deal between Likud and Blue and White set July 1 as the earliest date for Netanyahu to bring a vote on annexation to the cabinet or Knesset.
The date was selected so that there would be several months between Israel taking action and the US presidential election, and there is a sense of urgency on the Israeli side.
Officials in Washington – including Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, and Avi Berkowitz, assistant to the president and special representative for international negotiations – are currently very occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic and the rioting across the US, and while they have not backed down from support for sovereignty moves, it is not their top priority.
Trump administration officials have also let their frustrations be known in recent days with the Yesha Council’s activism against their peace plan, with settler leaders saying on condition of anonymity that American liaisons have called them dishonest and said they are missing an opportunity.
Netanyahu relayed that message earlier this week, when he urged settlers to support Trump’s sovereignty plan, during a meeting with the Yesha Council at his Jerusalem office on Tuesday.
“We are standing before a historic opportunity to apply sovereignty on the territory of Judea and Samaria,” he said.
Netanyahu emphasized to the settler leadership he was committed to negotiating a peace deal with the Palestinians based on the Trump plan, and underscored that talks were ongoing with the US about its sovereignty map.
His two hours with settlers failed to quell their opposition to the plan. The oppositional forces are led by Yesha Council head David Elhayani and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.
They both object to any efforts to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank. They are also concerned about the map published with the Trump peace plan, which they argued creates a situation that would lead to a de facto settlement freeze and the demolition of 15 settlements.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett slammed the plan last week, but softened his approach days later.
“We are in favor of sovereignty but we don’t know what is in the plan,” he said on Wednesday. “The prime minister is keeping it close to his chest. If the plan strengthens Israel we will support it and if it strengthens a Palestinian state, we will oppose it.”