Netanyahu: Israeli cabinet won’t vote on Palestinian statehood

The Palestinians “need to acknowledge that we control security in all areas” of the West Bank, Netanyahu said.

By Tovah Lazaroff and Leon Sverdlov, JPOST

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presents Israel’s new government to Knesset, May 17, 2020

Israel’s government won’t vote on the issue of Palestinian statehood or on the entirety of the US Donald Trump’s peace plan, Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu told the Hebrew daily Makor Rishon in an interview published Friday.

He clarified for the paper, that he planned to solely bring the topic of sovereignty to the cabinet and the Knesset for a vote, as dictated under the terms of his coalition agreement with the Blue and White party led by Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.

The paper asked Netanyahu, who has plans to bring the issue of sovereignty to a vote as early as July, “would the government decision on sovereignty include the topic of Palestinian statehood?”

Netanyahu answered: “That subject is separate. A government decision on the matter is not expected.”

The paper continued to press Netanyahu about the portion of the Trump plan that called for a demilitarized Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank.

“There won’t be a government decision that would. Recognize Palestinian statehood?,” the paper asked.

Netanyahu responded. “There won’t be a government decision with regard to the details of the plan or to the adoption of the plan. Like I said in Washington, I am willing to engage in negotiations [with the Palestinians] on the basis of the Trump plan.”

Netanyahu has been under pressure from right-wing politicians and a number of prominent settler leaders to approve a sovereignty plan that is separate from the Trump map that allows Israel to annex 30% of Area C, including all the Israeli settlements.

The settler leaders who oppose the Trump plan have argued that his map is problematic because it allows for de-facto settlement freezes and opens the door to the destruction of at at least 15 settlements.

A number of settler leaders have told The Jerusalem Post that the message they have received worrisome message from the Prime Minister’s Office and officials connected to the joint Israeli-US mapping process. The settler leaders told The Post that the mapping process was closed and no changes could be made. They blamed the US for taking a hardline position on the matter.

Knesset speaker Yariv Levin, who is on the joint Isaeli-Palestinian mapping committee, said that the US has not offered any position on the matter.

Netanyahu clarified to Makor Rishon that the mapping process was not complete and that changes could be made to the document.

When asked by the paper if the map was closed, Netanyahu responded, “not yet, we are sill working on it.” He insisted that the territory upon which sovereignty would be applied was 30% of the West Bank, which is the equivalent of 50% of Area C.

Netanyahu said that for four years, neither Israelis or Palestinians would be allowed to build in the 50% of Area C that was outside of Israeli sovereignty. He reference in this the four year period in which, under the Trump plan, there is a process for the creation of a Palestinian state.

There are no Israeli settlements in the area of that freeze.

Netanyahu clarified that he planned to act precisely according to the dictates of the coalition agreement with the Blue and White party, which would allow him bring the issue of West Bank sovereignty to the cabinet and to the Knesset. That provision speaks of US support for sovereignty.

The paper also quizzed Netanyahu on Jordan’s opposition to Israel’s pending annexation plans, including warnings that it could harm the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty. That treaty is seen as a cornerstone of Middle East stability.

Netanyahu said he believed that annexation would not destroy Israel’s peace treaty with Jordan, which he said was of “vital interest” to both countries.

The Prime Minister also gave an interview to the Hebrew daily Israel Hayom, in which he clarified that Israel has no plan to annex Jericho in the Jordan Valley and defended his support of the Trump peace plan and its provision for a demilitarized Palestinian statehood.

Yamina party head Naftali Bennett, charged that 250,000 Palestinians would receive Israeli citizenship under Trump’s peace plan. Bennett was referring to those Palestinians living in portions of Area C that would be annexed to Israel under the Trump plan. It’s presume that some 100,00 to 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C.

According to the Palestinians Bureau of Statistics there are some 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, the bulk of which live in Areas A and B under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel Hayom asked Netanyahu about the citizenship issue for Palestinians this way: “several thousand Palestinians live in the Jordan Valley. Does that mean they will receive Israeli citizenship?”

Netanyahu responded by referencing the Palestinian city of Jericho, located in the Jordan Valley in Area A, which has a population of over 22,000. Under Trump’s plan, Jericho would be part of a future Palestinian state.

”No,” Netanyahu said, with regard to the issue of offering Palestinians citizenships in the Jordan Valley.  Then he continued, “They will remain a Palestinian enclave. You’re not annexing Jericho. There’s a cluster or two. You don’t need to apply sovereignty over them, they will remain Palestinian subjects if you will. But security control also applies to these places.”

Netanyahu also. defended himself against charges from the Right and one of his arch political rivals that the US administration’s peace plan would create a terror state in the Biblical heartland in an interview he gave to the Hebrew daily Yisrael HaYom.

“If they [Palestinians]  see fit to meet and accept about 10 stringent conditions – including Israeli sovereignty west of the Jordan River, preserving a united Jerusalem, refusing to accept refugees, not uprooting Jewish communities, and Israeli sovereignty in large swathes of Judea and Samaria, etc. – the [diplomatic] process will move ahead,” said Netanyahu.

He was careful, however, not to use the phrase Palestinian state in talking about the demilitarized state offered to the Palestinian Authority under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, that was unveiled in January.

The. Palestinians, “need to acknowledge that we control security in all areas [of the West Bank]. If they consent to all this, then they will have an entity of their own that President Trump defines as a state,” Netanyahu said.

For the past three decades Israel has “only dreamed” that such conditions would be imposed upon the Palestinians in exchange for Palestinian statehood recognition, Netanyahu said.

But he stopped short of stating that he or Israel would recognize that statehood, answering the question this way.

“Only if the Palestinians agree to Israeli military control over the entire area, they will get an entity Trump considers a state,” Netanyahu said.

The Prime Minister defended himself to the paper against charges by his rivals on the right that he had abandoned their values. He noted that he was the first Israeli Prime Minster to secure US recognition for sovereignty on the Golan Heights and in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu pledged to continue with that track record by applying sovereignty to portions of the West Bank, “through an agreement that will facilitate American recognition in the areas of our homeland inside Judea and Samaria.”

“These are [US President Donald] Trump’s decisions, and the person who broached these matters with him was me. No one else,” Netanyahu said.

He attacked the International Criminal Court of Justice, which is now debating whether or not it has the jurisdiction to hear war crimes suits involving incidents that occurred in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The accused the ICC of already predetermining Israel’s guilty, even before any decision had already been made.

“The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has already decided we are guilty of war crimes. We are defending our homeland and the soldiers and leaders and bureaucrats are all guilty of war crimes, because we dare to build homes in Gilo or Beit El.”

He continued, saying “it is absurd” and that “we will have to fight this while dealing with coronavirus, and amid our fight against the Iranian nuclear program.”