SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Netanyahu won't move 'even one' settler for US peace plan
Jerusalem, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has told US President Donald Trump that Israel would not remove "even one person" from a settlement as part of a future peace plan.

"I said there shouldn't be the removal of even one settlement" from the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 13 television in an interview broadcast Friday.

Washington is expected to unveil proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace sometime after Tuesday's Israeli election in which Netanyahu is seeking a fifth term.

The Israeli prime minister was asked if he was familiar with the details of the US plan, replying he knew "what should be in it."

Along with settlements, "our ongoing control of all the territory west of the Jordan" River was a further condition set by the Israeli premier for any US-led peace initiative.

Netanyahu said he informed Trump not "even one person" would be evicted from a settlement, telling Channel 13 he doubted such a request would be made.

If such a measure is tabled, Israel would pull out of Washington's plan, according to Netanyahu.

In a Saturday interview on Channel 12 television, Netanyahu said beyond keeping settlements in place, he was planning "the next phase" if he is re-elected -- annexing settlements.

"I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he said.

Settlements built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War are deemed illegal by the international community and their ongoing construction is seen as a major barrier to peace.

More than 400,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, while a further 200,000 live in settlements in occupied east Jerusalem.

While Netanyahu has a close relationship with the US president, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas cut off relations with Washington after Trump declared the disputed city of Jerusalem Israel's capital in December 2017.

The Palestinians say the US government's pro-Israel bias meant it could no longer lead peace negotiations between them and Israel, while US officials argue their plan will be fair.

Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts have been at a standstill since 2014, when a drive for a deal by Barack Obama's administration collapsed.

Netanyahu said Friday his position on settlers had also been relayed to the former US president.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Axiom-4 mission launch scrubbed as SpaceX detects leak in Falcon 9 rocket
NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops
Physicists observe a new form of magnetism for the first time

24/7 Energy News Coverage
UK pumps 14 bn pounds into nuclear plant on path to net zero
Rolls-Royce to build U.K.'s first small modular reactors
'Applied AI' set to dominate France's Vivatech trade fair

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
China testing orbital refueling procedures for satellite missions
York preps first Dragoon Mission for Missile Warning and Warfighter Connectivity constellation
South Korea in 'final stages' to sign major tank deal with Poland

24/7 News Coverage
US restores some medical research grants, says top Trump official
NASA's Ready-to-Use Dataset Details Land Motion Across North America
BlackSky Gen-3 delivers very hi-res imagery at warfighting speed - 12 hours after launch



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.