US Says Ready to Recognize Israel’s Annexation of West Bank Areas
- US Says Ready to Recognize Israel’s Annexation of West Bank Areas
by i24NEWS – AFP, https://www.i24news.tv/en
US State Department says the green-light would come on the basis of President Trump’s Peace-to-Prosperity plan. Washington is ready to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over areas in the West Bank, a US State Department said Monday, as cited by the AFP.
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The agency cites the official as saying that the US is prepared to give its nod to Israel’s push to “extend Israeli sovereignty and the application of Israeli law to areas of the West Bank,” referring to the zones earmarked for becoming part of Israel under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan. The recognition would be granted “in the context of” Israel holding talks with the Palestinians along the lines laid out in the Peace-to-Prosperity plan.
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These would include an offer to the Palestinians to achieve statehood with economic support from the outside and based on the conditions outlined in the “Deal of the Century.” Under the peace plan, that the Trump administration laid out earlier in the year, there is a land swap between Israel and Palestinians, with Jerusalem annexing areas in the West Bank in exchange for a swath of land being added to the Gaza Strip.
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While Ramallah and Gaza rejected the plan, a broad number of Israeli politicians embraced it, and a joint US-Israeli panel got down to work hammering out what areas Israel can extend its sovereignty to.
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Under a unity government deal with Knesset (Israel Parliament) Speaker Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could put the motion for annexation to a vote as early as the summer.
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