Trump to brief Israel on secret peace plan

DONALD TRUMP has invited Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to Washington next week ahead of what seems to be the release of his longawaited Israeli-palestinian peace plan.

The White House has delayed releasing the secret plan, drawn up by Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, several times but is preparing to publish ahead of Israel’s election in March, Israeli media reported.

The Palestinians reiterated their rejection of the plan last night, and if its details are heavily pro-israel, as expected, its publication will put the White House on a diplomatic collision course with European and Arab allies.

Israeli media claimed it would tilt starkly in Israel’s favour, giving Israel sovereignty over its West Bank settlements, which most of the international community consider illegal.

The plan would reportedly give Israel

‘Reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative’

full sovereignty over Jerusalem and reject Palestinians calls for the holy city to be divided into a shared capital.

Palestinians are offered an independent state, but only if Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, is disarmed and if Palestinians recognise Israel

as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as its capital, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

Mr Trump posted that “reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative”.

Mr Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the Israeli opposition leader, will be briefed on portions of the plan next week. No Palestinians have been invited. The Palestinians cut off diplomatic contact with the US in 2017 in protest after Mr Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and have not been consulted on the plan’s drafting.

The reported decision to release the plan before the Israeli election is widely seen as politically advantageous to Mr Netanyahu, who is trailing behind Mr Gantz in the polls and has been indicted on criminal corruption charges.