Hold your wild West Bank horses: 5 things to know
June 4, 2020
With more than enough on its plate, the US puts a yellow light in front of Israel’s annexation plans; which may be godsend for Netanyahu
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu at the announcement of Trump’s plan on 28 January 2020
Jacob Magid writes in The Times of Israel:
1. Ixnay on the annexation? As Israel closes in on its July 1 annexation target date, the White House appears to be getting cold feet on welcoming the idea, maybe because it has quite a few other issues on its plate at the moment.
- A well-placed source tells The Times of Israel’s Raphael Ahren that the US administration is “highly unlikely” to approve such a unilateral Israeli move by the date that had been set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The source tells Ahren that the US-Israeli mapping committee still has weeks, if not months, of work left and one of its key members — as well as the plan’s architect Jared Kushner — still needs to make a trip to Israel in order for progress to take place.
- A Haaretz cartoon explains the situation better than any words. It shows Donald and Melania Trump looking out from their windows at the chaos in the American streets only to be disturbed by an aide who says, “They’re asking about annexation,” as if it’s anywhere near the top of the list of the White House’s priorities now.
- This might at least be good news for Israel’s diplomats, who tell the Netanyahu mouthpiece Israel Hayom that they’ve been left completely in the dark regarding the premier’s annexation plans. “We are asked all the time about the issue and we don’t know how to respond,” the paper quotes multiple ambassadors in Europe, apparently speaking in unison.
- But Haaretz’s Anshel Pfeffer writes that the fog coming from Balfour Street is because Netanyahu isn’t really interested in moving forward with annexation. “Netanyahu will annex parts of the West Bank only if he is convinced that it furthers his longtime plan of pushing the Palestinian issue off the global agenda and achieving an unofficial normalization and an anti-Iran alliance between Israel and the main Arab powers. He is not convinced that is the case and is therefore not rushing to make annexation plans. All that he has done so far is make election promises and then promise to keep them. All his options are open.”
2. Sad settlers: Pfeffer argues that while Netanyahu and settler leaders may be political allies, there remain considerable gaps between them, as demonstrated by the latest declines in the relationship.