(TIMES OF ISRAEL) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said Israel has begun mapping parts of the West Bank to annex, appearing to further step back from a pledge to swiftly apply Israeli sovereignty over these areas following the publication of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
“We’re already in the process of mapping the territory that according to the Trump plan will be part of the State of Israel,” he said at a Likud campaign event in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement town on Saturday night. “This won’t take a lot of time and we’ll complete this,” Netanyahu added, without further specifying. Immediately after Trump announced the release of his Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal during a January 28 White House ceremony attended by Netanyahu, the premier told reporters he planned to bring his plan to annex the Jordan Valley and West Bank settlements for cabinet approval within days.
Though US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman initially signaled American support for Israel moving ahead immediately with annexation, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner clarified the next day that the Trump administration expected Netanyahu to wait at least until a new Israeli government is formed sometime after the March 2 vote. READ MORE
