Israel election re-run puts Trump peace plan in peril
Netanyahu’s failure to form coalition wrecks White House timetable for action in the Middle East
THE White House’s hopes of rolling out its Israeli-palestinian peace plan this year were in chaos yesterday after Benjamin Netanyahu plunged Israel into unexpected new elections.
During a meeting with Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top aide on Middle East peace, Mr Netanyahu tried to downplay the political turmoil in his country as “a little event”.
But officials and analysts said the Israeli elections in September were likely to delay the peace plan and could lead to it being shelved altogether.
One US official suggested it may now have to wait until after the next presidential elections in the US.
The Palestinians, who are refusing to engage with America on the peace plan, delighted in the prospect of a delay. Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, said the plan – described as “the Deal of the Century” – should now be called “the Deal of Next Century”.
The White House waited until after the Israeli election in April to make a move on the peace plan, hoping a delay would spare Mr Netanyahu any political discomfort during his campaign.
When the incumbent prime minister appeared to have won a fifth term in office, Mr Kushner and his aides began making moves to roll out the plan in stages later this year. The economic half of the plan was due to be laid out in a summit in Bahrain next month while the more controversial political half would be made public later.
However, Mr Netanyahu unexpectedly failed to form a coalition government and instead spent the early hours of yesterday morning forcing through a bill in parliament to hold fresh elections in September. Later in the day, he tried to put a brave face on the situation as he met Mr Kushner at his office in Jerusalem.
“Even though we had a little event last night, that’s not going to stop us,” Mr Netanyahu said. “We’re going to continue working together.”
Mr Kushner said nothing publicly about what impact the Israeli political chaos would have on his peace plan.
Speaking in Washington, Mr Trump said Mr Netanyahu’s failed effort to build a coalition was “too bad”.
The president said: “They don’t need this. I mean, they’ve got enough turmoil over there.”
The US State Department indicated that the Bahrain summit would go ahead as planned on June 25 to try to encourage wealthy Arab states and businessmen to invest in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
But it is unclear when, if ever, the world will see the political half of the plan, which deals with more combustible issues, such as the future of Jerusalem,
‘Though we had a little event last night that’s not going to stop us. We are going to continue working together’
Israel’s borders and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees.
The timeline of the new elections means that, even if Mr Netanyahu wins again, he is unlikely to have a government formed until at least November.
By then, preparations for the 2020 US presidential election will be in full swing and the White House’s attention will likely be more focused on its Midwest than the Middle East.
While Mr Netanyahu was all smiles in front of his American visitors, he did little to mask his fury in the Israeli political realm.
His rage was directed at Avigdor Lieberman, his former defence minister, who refused to join his government and ultimately caused the coalition talks to fail. “Avigdor Lieberman is now part of the Left,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Mr Lieberman retorted that the prime minister’s Likud party was wracked by “hallucinations and schizophrenic reactions” and suggested that the party’s leaders needed psychiatric treatment.