Judea and Samaria
The members of Congress also said that annexation “risks insecurity in Jordan, with serious ancillary risks to Israel.”
Envoy says after spending more than three years traveling to Arab capitals, he “came to learn that we agree on far more than we disagree on.”
While there may be minor rumblings from some Arab states, experts on the right agree that there will be no major backlash and Trump’s peace plan will be recognized as diverging from the tried-and-failed approaches to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We are reaching out trying to persuade everybody that annexations are not a good idea and will create instability, and the Israeli government should reconsider,” said a senior E.U. official.
Failure to implement Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria now “will be a missed opportunity of historic proportions, and only the settlement leaders will be responsible,” says a Likud official.
The move is seen by some segments of the country as overreach and hypocritical, and proved an issue in the year-long elections in the Jewish state.
“AIPAC does not encourage members of Congress to criticize the government of Israel,” lobby spokesperson Adam Harris told JTA, which first published the news. “Our role is to strengthen the relationship between the two allies.”
“This is an historic hour, and historic steps must be taken. Listen to the voice of the people and the truth at this time,” said Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tells OIC that Muslim countries must show Israel that the move “will have consequences.”
German Foreign Office: “Annexation would be contrary to international law.”
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz tells visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who rejects Jeruslaem’s annexation plans, that all moves “should be promoted in dialogue with global players.”
The extension of Israeli law to Jewish towns will allow some 100,000 owners to complete the transfer of ownership rights and officially register their properties.
