Kushner: US will not consent to West Bank annexation ‘for some time’
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Israel will not move forward with its West Bank annexation plan without U.S. approval — and that consent won’t come for some time.
That’s what Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, told reporters from Middle East media outlets on Monday. Kushner said the Trump administration had gained Israel’s trust by moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and thus Israel will honor its commitment not to advance its idea to annex parts of the West Bank.
“That land is land that right now that Israel, quite frankly, controls,” Kushner said. “Israelis that live there aren’t going anywhere. There shouldn’t be any urgency to applying Israeli law.”
Kushner said the focus now has to be on implementing the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates that was announced on Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to suspend annexation as part of the deal.
Kushner called on the Palestinians to take advantage of the suspension and return to peace negotiations with Israel.
He said he expects that other Arab states will open official diplomatic ties with Israel in the near future, in part because they are realizing Iran is the region’s main problem.
In a statement issued Sunday, Netanyahu said the UAE agreement is different from previous deals because it is based on “peace for peace” and “peace through strength” rather than land for peace.
“This peace was not achieved because Israel weakened itself by withdrawing to the 1967 lines. It was achieved because Israel strengthened itself by cultivating a free economy, and military and technological strength, and by combining these two strengths to achieve unprecedented international influence,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu said the deal flies in the face of the concept that “no Arab country would agree to make an official and open peace with Israel before a conclusion was achieved in the conflict with the Palestinians.”
He added that the Trump peace plan “has not changed,” including the plan to annex parts of the West Bank.
“President Trump is committed to it and I am committed to conducting negotiations on this basis,” Netanyahu said.
Also Monday, the Oman Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that Foreign Minister Yousef bin Alawi spoke by phone with his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi. According to The Times of Israel, they discussed the Israel-UAE agreement and bin Alawi backed new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and peace in the region between Israel and more Arab nations.
The post US will not consent to West Bank annexation ‘for some time,’ Jared Kushner says appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
