US President Donald Trump on Monday hosted Israel’s prime minister and his chief rival at the White House on the eve of unveiling a long-awaited Middle East peace plan, expressing confidence that despite adamant Palestinian rejection they would ultimately go along with a blueprint he said was “very good for them.”
The Trump proposal is widely expected to be favorable to Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and challenger Benny Gantz speaking in glowing terms about the president and his initiative.
Yet with the Palestinians steadfastly refusing to even speak to Trump, and urging other Arab nations to boycott yesterday’s unveiling, there is great skepticism over the plan’s chances of success.
Photo: AP
The meetings come just a month before Netanyahu and Gantz are set to face off in national elections for the third time in less than a year, and both were looking to project leadership in their separate meetings with the president.
Trump called his proposal a great “opportunity,” but would not discuss further details, saying that its release has long been delayed because of the uncertain political situation in Israel.
He refused to answer questions about whether it would include Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank, signaling that it was premature for Palestinians to rule it out.
“I think in the end they’re going to want it. It’s very good for them,” he said alongside Netanyahu.
“We’re going to show a plan. It’s been worked on by everybody, and we’ll see whether or not it catches hold,” Trump said. “If it does, that would be great, and if it doesn’t, we can live with it, too, but I think it might have a chance.”
Netanyahu has hailed it as a chance to “make history” and define Israel’s final borders.
At the White House, Netanyahu pointed out Trump’s various gestures to Israel as well as his strong stance against Iran.
Netanyahu’s office said most of the meeting actually focused on Iran, although the peace plan was also discussed.
“You have made our alliance stronger than ever,” Netanyahu said to Trump.
Shortly after Netanyahu left, Gantz was invited into the White House for his first meeting with Trump.
Speaking to reporters later, he did not disclose details of their conversation, but he did shower Trump with praise.
He called his peace plan “a significant and historic milestone” that he looked forward to implementing once he became prime minister, in tandem with other countries in the region, specifically mentioning Jordan.
In the run-up to the March 2 vote, Netanyahu has called for annexing parts of the West Bank and imposing Israeli sovereignty on all its settlements there.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Jordan Valley in particular is considered a vital security asset.
Reports in Israeli media have speculated that Trump’s plan could include the possible annexation of large pieces of territory that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state.
US approval could give Netanyahu the type of cover to go ahead with a move that he has resisted taking for more than a decade.
Annexing Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank would appeal to Netanyahu’s hardline nationalist supporters, but would almost certainly torpedo the viability of an independent Palestinian state and likely infuriate neighboring Jordan.
In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, the second between Israel and its Arab neighbors after Egypt.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced the still-unpublished proposal, saying that it “doesn’t constitute a basis for resolving the conflict.”
He said that the plan contravenes international law and “comes from a party that has lost its credibility to be an honest broker in a serious and genuine political process.”
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