The Province

Mideast peace plan soon?

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The Trump administra­tion has told Israel’s government it expects to release its longawaite­d Israeli-Palestinia­n peace plan in the beginning of 2019, Israel’s UN ambassador said Tuesday.

Danny Danon told a group of UN reporters that with Israeli elections now likely next May or June, there is “a window of opportunit­y for the administra­tion to present the peace plan” early next year.

“Today, the president is able to come and present it without interferin­g in a political debate in Israel,” he said. “I think if he will present it during the election it will be horrendous. Everyone will be attacking it ... Even people who want to support part of the plan will not be able to do it.”

If the Trump administra­tion doesn’t present the plan soon, Danon said, it should wait until next fall when there is a new Israeli government.

U.S. President Donald Trump calls the Mideast peace plan the “Deal of the Century.”

Trump’s team

His Mideast team — headed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and adviser Jason Greenblatt — has been working on a peace proposal for months but hasn’t said when it will be released.

“We don’t know the details to the plan but we know that it’s completed,” Danon said. “Now, the question is when they will submit it. As far as we know, they speak with us about beginning of 2019, which is coming soon.

“We know that there will be parts that we will like, there will be parts that we don’t like,” Danon said. “But we will be open-minded. We will be willing to negotiate to speak about everything.”

He said it’s “unfortunat­e” that the Palestinia­ns consider the plan a non-starter and won’t engage — without having seen it.

The Palestinia­ns have accused Trump of being unfairly biased toward Israel.

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