Washington – The United States will not
release the long-delayed political portion of its
Israeli-Palestinian peace plan before Israel's elections next
month, White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt said on
Wednesday.
The move, announced in a tweet by Greenblatt, keeps the
plan's details from becoming an issue in the election, in which
the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close
ally of US President Donald Trump, is at stake.
"We have decided that we will not be releasing the peace
vision (or parts of it) prior to the Israeli election,"
Greenblatt said on Twitter.
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been working behind the
scenes on the plan to resolve the decades-old Israeli
Palestinian conflict, although Palestinians, who say the Trump
administration is too pro-Israel, say it is dead in the water.
A goal to raise tens of billions of dollars to fund the plan
was announced earlier this year, but the political details have
remained under wraps, with Kushner refusing to say even whether
it would offer Palestinians a state of their own.
Trump on Monday had said the plan might be revealed before
the Israeli election.
At a campaign rally on Wednesday, Netanyahu said he expected
the US proposal would not be delayed for much longer.
"This evening we learned that President Trump's 'deal of
century' would be published and presented to the world after the
election. I can reasonably estimate that it will happen very
soon after the election," Netanyahu said.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in
2014. The Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West
Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, areas Israel
captured in a 1967 war. Israel moved troops and settlers out of
Gaza in 2005 and still occupies the West Bank.
Trump's Middle East team, including Kushner, had wanted to
roll out the plan during the summer but Netanyahu's failure to
put together a governing coalition after April elections
prompted a delay.
Netanyahu now faces a fresh vote on September 17 and, if
successful, will try again to form a coalition.
Announcing a peace plan before September 17 could have
complicated a tight race in which Netanyahu's right-wing Likud
party and its strongest rival – Blue and White, led by former
armed forces chief Benny Gantz – are running neck and neck in
the polls.
Netanyahu has praised Trump policy moves such as the
transfer of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and his
recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and its annexation
of the occupied Golan Heights.
But any perceived concessions towards the Palestinians in
the peace plan in the run-up to a ballot only three weeks away
could have harmed Netanyahu's chances of remaining in office.
Netanyahu has campaigned for votes partly by highlighting
his close relationship with Trump, whom he has featured on
election billboards.
"Who do you want to negotiate with President Trump on the
'deal of the century'?" Netanyahu asked the crowd at Wednesday's
rally. "Me, at the head of a right-wing and Likud government, or
Gantz and (Blue and White co-leader Yair) Lapid?
"That's the question in this election, because we will be
faced, full force, with the (peace) issue in a few weeks' time."
The White House in June announced the economic piece of the
Trump peace plan and sought support for it at a conference of
global finance ministers in Bahrain.
It proposes a $50 billion investment plan that would create
a global investment fund to lift the Palestinian and neighbouring
Arab state economies, and fund a $5 billion transportation
corridor to connect the West Bank and Gaza.
Gulf leaders, however, want to see details of the political
plan before signing on to the economic plan.