President Donald Trump stated Thursday that he is not going to allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not it. It’s not going to happen,” he stated within the Oval Office, acknowledging that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier within the day on the subject. “It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now,” he added.
Trump’s declaration comes after his administration on Tuesday proposed to Arab leaders a 21-point peace plan to finish the war in Gaza, which led to an alternate of concepts among the many leaders over how to agree on a last proposal that might probably drive an finish to the battle, in accordance to a senior administration official and regional sources conversant in the matter.
The plan that the US proposed included quite a few factors that the administration has made publicly, together with the discharge of all hostages and a everlasting ceasefire, in accordance to a separate supply briefed on the matter. It additionally outlined a framework for a way Gaza could be ruled with out Hamas and included a proposal for Israel step by step withdrawing from the Gaza strip, the supply stated.
While regional leaders endorsed massive components of Trump’s plan, they made a collection of factors that they needed to be included in any last plan for Gaza, together with no annexation of the West Bank by Israel, a regional diplomat advised NCS. Other requests included sustaining the present established order for Jerusalem, ending the conflict in Gaza and bringing again all of the hostages held by Hamas, elevated humanitarian help to Gaza and addressing Israeli’s unlawful settlements, the diplomat stated.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, who attended the assembly with Trump, advised reporters on Thursday that he believes the president understands “very well the risks and dangers of annexation in the West Bank.”
“What I can say about the meeting with President Trump, which I think was a very important meeting, is that the Arab and Muslim countries made very clear to the president the danger of annexation of any type in the West Bank,” he stated, including that annexation poses dangers not simply to “the potential of peace in Gaza, but also to any sustainable peace at all.”
French President Emmanuel Macron foreshadowed Trump’s stance on Wednesday, telling French media that an Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank could be a “red line” for the United States and would mark the tip of the Abraham Accords.
From his dialog with Trump earlier within the week, Macron stated the US president was clear that on the subject of Israeli annexation of the West Bank, “Europeans and Americans are on the same page.”
“It would also be the end of the Abraham Accords, which was one of the success stories from Trump’s first administration. The United Arab Emirates were very clear on it and I think it’s a red line for the USA,” Macron stated in an interview with France24.
The UAE was the main signatory of the landmark 2020 Abraham Accords settlement, underneath which Israel normalized relations with three Arab nations. The nation has since said Israeli annexation of the West Bank could be a “red line” that may “end the pursuit of regional integration.”
Netanyahu, who’s within the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly and meet with Trump, this month signed a controversial West Bank settlement expansion plan, which incorporates constructing hundreds of latest housing items within the occupied West Bank, successfully reducing the Palestinian territory in two.
The so-called E1 plan had been frozen for many years within the face of worldwide opposition, since it will make a contiguous Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem just about not possible.
The plan to develop E1 was approved last month, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying it had “erased” the thought of a Palestinian state. Smotrich introduced the transfer as Israel’s response to the latest wave of nations announcing their intention to recognize a Palestinian state.
NCS’s Kylie Atwood, Kristen Holmes, and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.