White House dismisses idea of U.S.-Israel discussing settlement annexation

[webfact]

White House dismisses idea of U.S.-Israel discussing settlement annexation

By Jeffrey Heller

 

FILE PHOTO: General view of houses of the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev, in the occupied West Bank February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States dismissed as false an Israeli assertion on Monday that the two countries were discussing the possibility of Israel annexing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a rare display of discord between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

"On the subject of applying sovereignty, I can say that I have been talking to the Americans about it for some time," Netanyahu told a closed-door meeting of his right-wing Likud party's legislators, according to the party's spokesman.

 

Netanyahu was referring to applying Israeli law to the settlements, a step tantamount to annexation. They are currently under the jurisdiction of Israel's military, which has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war.

 

Later on Monday, the White House denied having such discussions and a senior Israeli official said Netanyahu had not made a specific annexation proposal to Washington.

 

"Reports that the United States discussed with Israel an annexation plan for the West Bank are false," White House spokesman Josh Raffel said. "The United States and Israel have never discussed such a proposal, and the president’s focus remains squarely on his Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative."

 

Issuing a clarification, the prime minister’s office stepped back from any suggestion of a dialogue with Washington on any government annexation plan. It said Netanyahu had only updated the Americans on proposed legislation in parliament.

 

Some commentators suggested Netanyahu's remarks to Likud might have been a move to placate right-wingers in his cabinet rather than a concrete plan.

 

The remarks stoked Palestinian anger, already high over Trump's Dec. 6 announcement that the United States recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a reversal of decades of U.S. policy.

 

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said any annexation would "destroy all efforts to try and save the peace process".

 

"No-one has the right to discuss the situation of the occupied Palestinian lands," Abu Rdainah said from Moscow, where Abbas was holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid reports they may discuss new options for Middle East mediation.

 

Most countries regard Israel's settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.

 

Trump, in a phone call with Putin, said "now is the time to work toward an enduring peace agreement," a White House statement said.

 

NO TIMEFRAME

 

The Likud spokesman did not mention a timeframe for an annexation or go into further details on the U.S. discussions. He quoted Netanyahu as telling the lawmakers that any change in the settlements' status must first be coordinated, "as much as possible" with the United States, Israel's main ally.

 

"Israel updated the Americans about different proposals being raised at the Knesset and the U.S. expressed its clear position that it wishes to advance President Trump's peace plan," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

 

An Israel Radio political affairs commentator described Netanyahu's comments as largely ideological in nature and said it was unlikely any practical steps would be taken in the near future.

 

Netanyahu's comments to the legislators appeared, at least in part, to be an attempt to soften any political fallout within Likud over his decision on Sunday to block a bill proposed by several right-wing lawmakers to annex settlements.

 

A source at the prime minister's office said on Sunday the bill was blocked in order to give diplomatic efforts more of a chance.

 

The Trump administration has been less critical than the administration of President Barack Obama of Israeli settlement policy. But in an interview published on Sunday in Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu newspaper, Trump urged Israel to tread cautiously.

 

"The settlements are something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements," Trump said.

 

Trump also voiced doubts about Palestinian and Israeli commitment to making peace.

 

Asked when he would unveil a promised new peace plan, Trump said: "We are going to see what goes on. Right now, I would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace, they are not looking to make peace. And I am not necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace."

 

U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed in 2014, with the settlement issue one of the main factors behind their failure.

 

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Grant McCool and Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-13

[kblaze]

Annexation would catalyze a third intifada.

[Trouble]

Is Israel so tight on land they really need to build on the occupied territories?

[Morch]

Once more Netanyahu is trying to wiggle out of domestic political trouble, and creates a foreign relations one. Nothing new there, and in a way, not too different from Trump on this score.

 

Part of his "reasoning" for blocking the proposed legislation was because "this needs to be a government initiative and not a private one, as this is a historic move". Considering ongoing police investigations revolving around Netanyahu, interesting to pit that quote against an older one, made when Netanyahu was in the opposition - "We’re talking here about a prime minister buried up to his neck in investigations. He has no moral or public mandate to decide such fateful things for the State of Israel, because there exists the fear, I have to say real and not unfounded, that he’ll make decisions based on personal interests for his own political survival and not for the national interest."

 

The Palestinian spokesman's comments are about as daft - "No-one has the right to discuss the situation of the occupied Palestinian lands". Other than this being a "Whatcha talkin bout Willis" statement, it's all the more odd seeing as  it was made "from Moscow, where Abbas was holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid reports they may discuss new options for Middle East mediation."

 

Trump seems to be backpedaling on prospects, or at least hedging in (the probable) case things don't go as imagined. And he's not even being one-sided as usual about it. 

 

[Galactus]

israel is scratching hard again!

and if they do that, israel sure will get scratched very very hard over there.

and forever. which will go generations and generations and at the end, there will be no more israelis there staying.

Corrupt and bigot Netenyahu is just dreaming i reckon:)

Election is coming or what??

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 9:24 AM, Trouble said:

Is Israel so tight on land they really need to build on the occupied territories?

No. IMO it's a political move, and using the ultra fanatical religious zealots that believe they have a "right" to the land because it's in a book that the man in the sky gave it to them thousands of years ago.