U.S. OFFICIALS TO MEET OVER ISRAEL’S ANNEXATION PLAN

WASHINGTON U.S. officials will gather this week to discuss whether to give Israel a green light for its plan to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s target date of July 1 approaches.

A senior administration official said the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, will be in Washington to meet officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz.

Under Trump’s Middle East peace proposal, unveiled in January, it is envisaged that the United States would recognize the Jewish settlements — built on land that the Palestinians seek for a state — as part of Israel.

The proposal would create a Palestinian state as part of a broader peace plan, but impose strict conditions on it. Palestinian leaders have dismissed the initiative entirely.

Netanyahu has set July 1 as the date to launch his project of extending sovereignty over the settlements and the Jordan Valley. Most countries view Israel’s settlements on occupied land as illegal, and Palestinian leaders have voiced outrage at the prospect of annexation.