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Netanyahu hopes to ‘make history’ at talks on Trump peace plan
JERUSALEM, Jan 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu voiced hope Sunday that he can “make history” in Washington this
week during talks on US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Middle
East.
Netanyahu has been invited to meet Trump at the White House on Monday and
Tuesday to discuss the project, which has already been dismissed by the
Palestinians.
“We are in the midst of very dramatic diplomatic developments, but the
climax is still ahead of us,” Netanyahu told reporters ahead of a weekly
cabinet meeting.
“In a short while, I’ll leave for Washington to meet my friend, the
President of the United States Donald Trump, who will present his deal of the
century… I’m full of hope that we can make history,” he added.
Trump on Thursday said he will release his long-delayed plan before meeting
Netanyahu in Washington.
“It’s a great plan. It’s a plan that really would work,” Trump said.
Netanyahu’s political rival Benny Gantz has also been invited to the White
House to meet with Trump on Monday.
Gantz told a news conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday that the “peace plan
devised by President Trump will go down in history as a meaningful landmark”.
He expected the initiative to allow “different players in the Middle East
to finally move ahead towards an historic regional agreement”.
The Palestinian leadership was not invited and has already rejected Trump’s
plan amid tense relations with the US president over his recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital.
“This step only reaffirms our absolute rejection of what the US
administration has done so far, particularly the recognition of Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital,” Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s spokesman said in a
statement.
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state
and believe Trump’s plan buries the two-state solution that has been for
decades the cornerstone of international Middle East diplomacy.
World powers have long agreed that Jerusalem’s fate should be settled
through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
– Israel’s ‘greatest friend’ –
Israel has occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day
War.
More than 600,000 Israelis now live there in settlements considered illegal
under international law.
Trump’s peace initiative has been in the works since 2017.
The economic component of the initiative was unveiled in June and calls for
$50 billion in international investment in the Palestinian territories and
neighbouring Arab countries over 10 years.
Trump came to power in 2017 promising to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace,
which he labelled the “ultimate deal”. The US president has repeatedly
boasted that he is the most pro-Israeli US president in history.
Netanyahu in a statement Saturday called Trump “the greatest friend that
Israel has ever had”.
Gantz also showered Trump with praise during his news conference.
“I wish to thank President Trump for his dedication and determination in
defending the security interests that both Israel and the US share,” Gantz
said.
Trump’s separate meetings with Netanyahu and Gantz come a little more than
a month before new Israeli elections, with polls showing Netanyahu’s right-
wing Likud and Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party running neck-and-neck.
Israeli media speculated that Trump had chosen to unveil his plan in
support of Netanyahu’s election bid — the third in a year.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1856 hrs