Trump meets with Israeli rivals on eve of unveiling peace plan
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday as he prepared to unveil a long-awaited Mideast peace plan.
Although the Palestinians have already rejected the proposal, which is widely expected to be favorable to Israel, Trump predicted they would ultimately go along with a blueprint he said was “very good for them.”
The president said the peace plan — developed under the oversight of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — would be announced at 11 a.m. CST today.
Trump called his proposal a great “opportunity” but wouldn’t discuss further details, noting that its release has long been delayed because of the uncertain political situation in Israel. He refused to answer questions over whether it would
include Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank, signaling that it was premature for Palestinians to rule it out.
“I think in the end they’re going to want it. It’s very good for them,” he said in the Oval Office alongside Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington on Sunday night. “We’re going to show a plan. It’s been worked on by everybody, and we’ll see whether or not it catches hold. If it does, that would be great, and if it doesn’t, we can live with it, too. But I think it might have a chance.”
Netanyahu pointed out Trump’s various gestures to Israel as well as his strong stance against Iran. Netanyahu’s office said most of the meeting focused on Iran, though the peace plan was also discussed.
Netanyahu told Trump that he had made the U.S.-Israel alliance “stronger than ever.”
“You’ve been the greatest man Israel had in the White House,” Netanyahu said. “I think tomorrow you can continue making history.”
Shortly after Netanyahu left the meeting, his opponent in Israel’s March 2 election, Benny Gantz, was invited into the White House for his first meeting with Trump.
Trump did not invite reporters into that meeting, though official Israeli photographs posted online showed the president and Gantz shaking hands and smiling.
Speaking to reporters later, Gantz did not disclose details of their conversation, but he did speak in glowing terms about the president and his initiative. He called Trump’s peace plan “a significant and historic milestone” that he looked forward to implementing as prime minister, in tandem with other countries in the region — specifically mentioning Jordan.
Gantz’s allies have complained that Trump’s decision to hold joint appearances Monday and today with Netanyahu, but speak privately with Gantz, inappropriately elevates Netanyahu, who has been a close Trump ally. Gantz planned to return to Israel before Trump and Netanyahu deliver public remarks together at the White House today.
Asked by reporters about hosting the two rivals in highly unusual back-to-back sessions, Trump professed neutrality but said he was impatient with Israel’s tangled politics, which have resulted in three national elections in the past year as neither Netanyahu nor Gantz could muster a majority government.
“They’re two good competitors. They’re fighting it out,” Trump said with Netanyahu at his side. “I’ve been waiting now — this is my third election. We keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting. So, let’s go. What kind of a system is that?”
ANNEXATION AT ISSUE
Reports in Israeli media have speculated that Trump’s plan could include the annexation of large pieces of territory that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Jordan Valley in particular is considered a vital security asset.
Any direct or implicit green light from Washington for unilateral Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements on the West Bank is likely to increase the pressure on Netanyahu from his right-wing partners to move ahead immediately.
“The time for talk is over — full sovereignty now,” Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s defense minister and the leader of a right-wing party Netanyahu depends on for support, urged last week on Twitter. “Within two weeks we must impose sovereignty over all the settlements.”
The plan also has hazards for Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party. If he embraces it, he could alienate his more left-leaning supporters. If Gantz rejects the plan or gives it a lukewarm reception, he could send his more right-leaning supporters back to Netanyahu’s Likud or other parties in the right-wing bloc.
And Israeli leaders have avoided unilateral annexation for decades. For one thing, it could undermine Israel’s strategic peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt. It could also fuel Palestinian unrest or a violent reaction.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced the still-unpublished proposal again Monday in Ramallah, saying it “doesn’t constitute a basis for resolving the conflict.” He said the plan violates international law and “comes from a party that has lost its credibility to be an honest broker in a serious and genuine political process.”
The Palestinians are still angry at Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the U.S. Embassy there and taking other steps they consider biased toward Israel.
A Palestinian official said President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected overtures from mediators in recent weeks to arrange a phone call with Trump. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a classified diplomatic issue.
Abbas’ spokesman also called on ambassadors of Arab countries who were invited to the White House today to boycott the event. No Arab leader has publicly embraced the as-yet-unreleased plan, though Trump said Monday that “many of the Arab nations have agreed to it. They like it. They think it’s great.”
Mike Evans, an evangelical leader and Trump supporter who has met with Arab government officials, said that “even though many won’t say it publicly, quietly they are on board.”
ISIS: WILL TARGET ISRAEL
The Islamic State extremist group blasted the U.S. peace plan, vowing in an audio message released Monday that the extremists will start a new phase of attacks that will focus on Israel.
Although the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has carried out deadly attacks throughout the world over the past years, it has rarely targeted Israel. The audio appears to be an attempt to win support for the extremist group in the region.
Islamic State spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi urged in the 37-minute audio members of the extremist group to carry out attacks against Israel. The message was released by the group’s al-Furqan media.
The rallying message comes after a year of major defeats for the extremist group, including the death of its leader and founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a U.S. attack in northwestern Syria. The extremists also lost in March last year the last sliver of land they controlled as part of their so-called caliphate declared in 2014 over wide parts of Iraq and Syria.
After the death of al-Baghdadi, the group named in late October his successor as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi alQurayshi.
“He and his brothers in all states have vowed to begin a new phase, which is to fight the Jews and restore all that they have usurped from Muslims,” the spokesman said about alQurayshi.
The message exhorted the “soldiers of the caliphate,” especially in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and across the Middle East, to attack Jewish targets as they are near to Israel.
The spokesman referred to Trump’s description of the peace plan, adding: “To Muslims and Palestine and elsewhere, be a main force in fighting Jews and frustrating their plans such as the Deal of the Century.”