15 feb 2019
The US President Donald Trump’s senior Middle East adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, said Thursday that the Trump administration would unveil its much-awaited Mideast “Deal of the Century” after Israeli elections on April 9.
According to the Washington Post, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Kushner briefed participants at a security conference in Poland about the anticipated plan but would not go into details for fear of it leaking. Netanyahu told reporters that he looked forward to “seeing the plan once it is presented.”
Netanyahu said he heard nothing new from Kushner besides a reference to a 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative, which offered full Arab recognition of Israel in return for a withdrawal from territories it captured in the 1967 war.
Netanyahu wouldn’t comment on any concessions Israel would have to make under any U.S.-backed proposal.
A diplomat who watched Kushner’s presentation quoted him as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian “file” to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement “a shot.” Despite the long odds, he said he believed “privately, people are much more flexible” than their public positions, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to protocol.
The Palestinians have rejected the plan, accusing the Trump White House of being unfairly biased in favor of Israel. The apparent rejection of the Saudi peace plan is likely to deepen their belief that the plan will fall far short of their longstanding goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, occupied Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
“There will be no peace and stability in the Middle East without a peaceful solution that leads to a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinians skipped Thursday’s conference and asked Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation. Some 60 countries took part in the gathering, including five Arab foreign ministers that made a rare public appearance alongside Netanyahu.
Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years but has yet to release any details, and the release of his plan has been repeatedly delayed.
U.S. officials had said Kushner would make some comments in Warsaw about the conflict. But Netanyahu said ahead of time he didn’t expect any discussion of the peace plan, with the focus of the conference on participants’ shared concern over Iran and its growing influence in the region.
The diplomat quoted Netanyahu joking at some point to Kushner that “having this file” is a “tough one.”
“But, if you are crazy enough, and I think you might just be, you can come up with new ideas,” he quoted Netanyahu as saying.
The U.S. recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, along with the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to the Palestinians, have prompted the Palestinians to cut off ties with the White House and pre-emptively reject the peace plan.
With the Palestinians sidelined, Netanyahu has tried to use the Warsaw conference to get closer to other Arab nations aligned with it against Iran.
Netanyahu has long boasted of clandestinely developing good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Bringing such contacts out into the open would mark a major diplomatic coup and put a seal of approval on his goal of improving Israel’s standing in the world, and particularly with Arabs.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu met with Oman’s foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, and they issued a joint video statement. At Thursday’s opening session he was seated next to the foreign minister of Yemen, Khaled al-Yamani, as representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and others looked on.
According to the Washington Post, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Kushner briefed participants at a security conference in Poland about the anticipated plan but would not go into details for fear of it leaking. Netanyahu told reporters that he looked forward to “seeing the plan once it is presented.”
Netanyahu said he heard nothing new from Kushner besides a reference to a 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative, which offered full Arab recognition of Israel in return for a withdrawal from territories it captured in the 1967 war.
Netanyahu wouldn’t comment on any concessions Israel would have to make under any U.S.-backed proposal.
A diplomat who watched Kushner’s presentation quoted him as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian “file” to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement “a shot.” Despite the long odds, he said he believed “privately, people are much more flexible” than their public positions, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to protocol.
The Palestinians have rejected the plan, accusing the Trump White House of being unfairly biased in favor of Israel. The apparent rejection of the Saudi peace plan is likely to deepen their belief that the plan will fall far short of their longstanding goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, occupied Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
“There will be no peace and stability in the Middle East without a peaceful solution that leads to a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinians skipped Thursday’s conference and asked Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation. Some 60 countries took part in the gathering, including five Arab foreign ministers that made a rare public appearance alongside Netanyahu.
Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years but has yet to release any details, and the release of his plan has been repeatedly delayed.
U.S. officials had said Kushner would make some comments in Warsaw about the conflict. But Netanyahu said ahead of time he didn’t expect any discussion of the peace plan, with the focus of the conference on participants’ shared concern over Iran and its growing influence in the region.
The diplomat quoted Netanyahu joking at some point to Kushner that “having this file” is a “tough one.”
“But, if you are crazy enough, and I think you might just be, you can come up with new ideas,” he quoted Netanyahu as saying.
The U.S. recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, along with the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to the Palestinians, have prompted the Palestinians to cut off ties with the White House and pre-emptively reject the peace plan.
With the Palestinians sidelined, Netanyahu has tried to use the Warsaw conference to get closer to other Arab nations aligned with it against Iran.
Netanyahu has long boasted of clandestinely developing good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Bringing such contacts out into the open would mark a major diplomatic coup and put a seal of approval on his goal of improving Israel’s standing in the world, and particularly with Arabs.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu met with Oman’s foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, and they issued a joint video statement. At Thursday’s opening session he was seated next to the foreign minister of Yemen, Khaled al-Yamani, as representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and others looked on.
12 feb 2019
The Trump administration has completed its ‘Deal of the Century’, or what it called the ‘Middle East Peace Plan’, framework for a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Fox News reported Sunday, from the United States, citing two senior administration officials.
According to the report, the final draft of the plan runs between 175 and 200 pages in length. The full text has only been shown to a handful of people – less than five – the two senior Trump administration officials say.
President Trump has been briefed on the plan, and approved the “parameters” of the framework.
“The plan is done… [the president] is happy with the parameters of the deal,” one senior administration official told Fox News, according to the PNN.
In December, a Trump administration official said the release of the peace plan would be delayed on account of Israel’s snap elections, but added that there were other considerations which prompted the White House to push back the deal’s release.
According to the report, the final draft of the plan runs between 175 and 200 pages in length. The full text has only been shown to a handful of people – less than five – the two senior Trump administration officials say.
President Trump has been briefed on the plan, and approved the “parameters” of the framework.
“The plan is done… [the president] is happy with the parameters of the deal,” one senior administration official told Fox News, according to the PNN.
In December, a Trump administration official said the release of the peace plan would be delayed on account of Israel’s snap elections, but added that there were other considerations which prompted the White House to push back the deal’s release.
9 feb 2019
Dozens of Israeli ministers and senior officials from the Likud political party and other right-wing parties have signed a petition to settle two million Jews across the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and ministers Gilad Erdan, Miri Regev, Yisrael Katz of the Likud party, Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett of New Right party, were among signatories on a petition to abandon the two-state solution and establish new Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank.
The signed petition was put forward by the Nahala Movement, an Israeli settler group, to promote an Israeli settlement plan introduced under the government of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in the early 1900s.
The main objective of the petition is to settle 2 million Jews in the West Bank.
Nahala activists have been recently protesting outside of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, demanding the next government to work toward the settlement of all of West Bank and to abandon the idea of a two-state solution.
Among members of the Likud who have signed the declaration are Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Environmental Protection and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Culture Minister Miri Regev, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, Communication Minister Ayoub Kara, Immigration and Absorption Minister Yoav Gallant, Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel and Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, both of the New Right party, also signed the petition.
The Nahala Movement's declaration read, "I hereby commit to be loyal to the land of Israel, not to cede one inch of our inheritance from our forefathers. I hereby commit to act to realize the settlement plan for the settlement of 2 million Jews in Judea and Samaria in accordance with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's plan, as well as to encourage and lead the redemption of all the lands throughout Judea and Samaria. I commit to act to cancel the declaration of two states for two peoples and replace it with the stately declaration: The land of Israel: One country for one people."
The Nahala Movement said in a statement that the petition is an “ideological and ethical loyalty test.”
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.
Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and ministers Gilad Erdan, Miri Regev, Yisrael Katz of the Likud party, Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett of New Right party, were among signatories on a petition to abandon the two-state solution and establish new Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank.
The signed petition was put forward by the Nahala Movement, an Israeli settler group, to promote an Israeli settlement plan introduced under the government of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in the early 1900s.
The main objective of the petition is to settle 2 million Jews in the West Bank.
Nahala activists have been recently protesting outside of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, demanding the next government to work toward the settlement of all of West Bank and to abandon the idea of a two-state solution.
Among members of the Likud who have signed the declaration are Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Environmental Protection and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Culture Minister Miri Regev, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, Communication Minister Ayoub Kara, Immigration and Absorption Minister Yoav Gallant, Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel and Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, both of the New Right party, also signed the petition.
The Nahala Movement's declaration read, "I hereby commit to be loyal to the land of Israel, not to cede one inch of our inheritance from our forefathers. I hereby commit to act to realize the settlement plan for the settlement of 2 million Jews in Judea and Samaria in accordance with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's plan, as well as to encourage and lead the redemption of all the lands throughout Judea and Samaria. I commit to act to cancel the declaration of two states for two peoples and replace it with the stately declaration: The land of Israel: One country for one people."
The Nahala Movement said in a statement that the petition is an “ideological and ethical loyalty test.”
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.
8 feb 2019
Jared Kushner, the United States President's son-in-law and senior adviser, will visit the Middle East at the end of February, along with the US President's special envoy to the region, Jason Greenblatt, to discuss the economic aspects of Donald Trump's peace plan, "Deal of the Century."
Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, reported that the visit will include stops in at least five Arab countries.
The visit will be Kushner's first to the region since the US announced it will delay the presentation of the peace plan until the end of the Israeli election.
Haaretz reported that Kushner and Greenblatt will meet with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - three countries that could play a key role in supporting efforts to strengthen the Palestinian economy.
The newspaper added that the visit "will focus only on the economic issues, according to the White House, and not on the political, diplomatic and security aspects of the plan."
Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, reported that the visit will include stops in at least five Arab countries.
The visit will be Kushner's first to the region since the US announced it will delay the presentation of the peace plan until the end of the Israeli election.
Haaretz reported that Kushner and Greenblatt will meet with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - three countries that could play a key role in supporting efforts to strengthen the Palestinian economy.
The newspaper added that the visit "will focus only on the economic issues, according to the White House, and not on the political, diplomatic and security aspects of the plan."
2 jan 2019
Arabic-language paper says Trump's yet-unveiled 'deal of the century' includes Palestinian state in Gaza, self-rule in areas of West Bank, but no loss of land for Israel; former defese minister's office denies claim.
Former defense minister and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman revealed details of Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan to the Palestinians before resigning his ministerial post in November, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported Wednesday, citing Palestinian officials.
According to the Saudi-owned paper, the plan calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip. Arabs in the West Bank, meanwhile, would be citizens of the Palestinian state in Gaza, but the Palestinians will not receive control of any land in the territory.
Palestinian self-rule would reportedly be limited to Area A of the West Bank, parts of Area B, and a small part of Area C.
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Area A is land governed entirely by the Palestinians, Area B is under Palestinian civil and Israeli military administration, and Area C is under both Israeli military and civil control.
In addition, the plan includes sweeping economic incentives for the Palestinians, including a provision for large donations from the international community to build the infrastructure for the Palestinian state in Gaza, including an airport and a sea port.
Israel, according to the report, would maintain control of the borders and crossings of the West Bank, as well as over security and water in the disputed territory. Israel would also keep the Jordan Valley and maintain control over a large part of East Jerusalem under the plan.
Al Hayat noted the plan ensures the survival of Israeli settlements, but gave no details as to whether that meant just major settlement blocs or isolated communties as well.
Lieberman's office denied the report, telling Israeli media that the former minister "has never seen the plan, and to the best of his knowledge the Americans haven’t revealed the details of the plan to any Israeli, and it isn’t a sure thing that it has been completed. The report is simply incorrect."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dubbed the Trump administration's so-called deal of the century peace plan as "a conspiracy that they are going to be waging from afar."
"They say, 'Wait for the deal.' What are we waiting for? Everything is on the table, and nothing is left hidden. What they offer is rejected, rejected, rejected. We will fight to prevent it, because we will not sell our sanctity," Abbas told a meeting of his Fatah movement in the West Bank on Monday.
Former defense minister and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman revealed details of Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan to the Palestinians before resigning his ministerial post in November, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported Wednesday, citing Palestinian officials.
According to the Saudi-owned paper, the plan calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip. Arabs in the West Bank, meanwhile, would be citizens of the Palestinian state in Gaza, but the Palestinians will not receive control of any land in the territory.
Palestinian self-rule would reportedly be limited to Area A of the West Bank, parts of Area B, and a small part of Area C.
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Area A is land governed entirely by the Palestinians, Area B is under Palestinian civil and Israeli military administration, and Area C is under both Israeli military and civil control.
In addition, the plan includes sweeping economic incentives for the Palestinians, including a provision for large donations from the international community to build the infrastructure for the Palestinian state in Gaza, including an airport and a sea port.
Israel, according to the report, would maintain control of the borders and crossings of the West Bank, as well as over security and water in the disputed territory. Israel would also keep the Jordan Valley and maintain control over a large part of East Jerusalem under the plan.
Al Hayat noted the plan ensures the survival of Israeli settlements, but gave no details as to whether that meant just major settlement blocs or isolated communties as well.
Lieberman's office denied the report, telling Israeli media that the former minister "has never seen the plan, and to the best of his knowledge the Americans haven’t revealed the details of the plan to any Israeli, and it isn’t a sure thing that it has been completed. The report is simply incorrect."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dubbed the Trump administration's so-called deal of the century peace plan as "a conspiracy that they are going to be waging from afar."
"They say, 'Wait for the deal.' What are we waiting for? Everything is on the table, and nothing is left hidden. What they offer is rejected, rejected, rejected. We will fight to prevent it, because we will not sell our sanctity," Abbas told a meeting of his Fatah movement in the West Bank on Monday.
