If Israel unilaterally moves to annex parts of the West Bank, America may not recognize its sovereignty, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman warned on Sunday. “The application of Israeli law to the territory which the [US peace] Plan provides to be part of Israel is subject to the completion [of] a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee,” Friedman wrote on Twitter. “Any unilateral action in advance of the completion of the committee process endangers the plan and American recognition.”
President Trump’s Vision for Peace is the product of more than three years of close consultations among the President, PM Netanyahu and their respective senior staff. As we have stated, the application of Israeli law to the territory which the Plan provides to be part of— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) February 9, 2020
Israel is subject to the completion a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee. Any unilateral action in advance of the completion of the committee process endangers the Plan & American recognition.— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) February 9, 2020
Friedman’s comments come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces political pressure and anger on the Israeli Right because he backtracked from a promise to annex settlements in the West Bank immediately, saying twice in the last week that annexation would only happen after the March 2 election. “We’ve been waiting since 1967, and people are making a big deal over a few weeks. It will happen,” Netanyahu lamented at a Likud event in Maaleh Adumim on Saturday night. “Trump will do it: I trust him completely.” Netanyahu said that Israel has begun the process of mapping out the territory for Israel to annex. Ronen Peretz, director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, will head the Israeli side of the committee, a source in the office said. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump presented his peace plan, by which the US will approve of Israel annexing some 30% of the West Bank, including all settlements and the Jordan Valley – as well as not expanding construction beyond that area – while being ready to recognize a Palestinian state in the rest of the West Bank. That state would be demilitarized, could no longer pay terrorists a monthly salary and would have to be democratic and provide its citizens with basic civil rights, according to the Trump plan. On the day of the plan’s presentation, Netanyahu said he would annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank within a matter of days and the rest of the 30% at a later time. His plan soon changed to a one-step annexation after the March 2 election, in light of comments by special adviser to the US president Jared Kushner that the map included in the Trump plan was a “conceptual” one and that the specific border would have to be delineated by a joint US-Israel committee. The prime minister explained on Saturday that the peace plan reverses the usual demands, by which “Israel had to agree to concessions like freeing prisoners and freezing construction in communities [in the West Bank], and the Palestinians didn’t have to do anything. Now, it’s the opposite. “Just to enter negotiations, they have to stop paying terrorists and withdraw their suit in the International Criminal Court,” he stated. “And to complete it, they have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, give up on the right of return, recognize Israel’s security rights to the west of the Jordan River, demilitarize Gaza, recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel [and] have a democratic government.” Zachary Keyser contributed to this report.
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