U.S. REFUTES ISRAELI CLAIM
White House denies discussing annexation of Jewish settlements
THE United States has 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 US President Donald Trump and Israeli 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 IsraeliPalestinian peace initiative.”
Issuing a clarification, the Israeli prime minister’s office stepped back from any suggestion of a dialogue with Washington on an annexation plan. It said Netanyahu had only updated the Americans on proposed legislation in Parliament. Some commentators suggested that Netanyahu’s remarks to Likud might have been intended to placate right-wingers in his cabinet rather than a concrete plan.
The remarks stoked Palestinian anger, already high over Trump’s announcement that the US recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a reversal of decades of US 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,” he said from Moscow, where Abbas was holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid reports they might discuss new options for Middle East mediation.
Most countries regard Israel’s settlements as illegal.