Middle East
“For too long, the heart of Israel has been outrageously branded as illegally occupied territory,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Today, Mr. President, you are puncturing this big lie.”
“The Palestinians are still angry at the State of Israel, but they’re also looking at Gaza; they see the conditions there, and they do not want to reach that. They fear closures and disorder disrupting their lives,” Moshe Elad, founder of security coordination between the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinian Authority, tells JNS.
After refusing to answer a phone call from Washington, Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas instructs P.A. security forces not to interfere with rioters, says “resistance must be escalated.”
Senior religious Zionist rabbis that penned a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of the dangers of the Trump peace plan are “squandering the moment.”
The announcement of the details of the “deal of the century” represents a crisis for the Palestinian Authority, which will have no choice but to respond, but has limited options available to do so.
“And it’s a very big plan. It will be a suggestion between Israel and the Palestinians; it’s the closest it’s ever come,” said U.S. President Donald Trump while sitting alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inside the Oval Office.
“There were attempts by Trump to hold a phone call with Abbas, but the latter refused,” an unnamed high-ranking Palestinian official told the state-run Turkish outlet “Anadolu.”
P.A. foreign ministry: U.S. peace proposal is “the plot of the century to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”
While it is not yet clear who launched the attack, America has blamed Iran-backed militias for targeting U.S. interests in Iraq.
“I am hopeful we can make history,” says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who along with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is in the United States to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the reveal of Trump’s Mideast peace plan.
While any peace deal is likely to be controversial, its project release is coming under added scrutiny. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political opponents believe that he stands to benefit from the outcome just five weeks’ away from national elections.
Israeli and American representatives at the United Nations believe that the unveiling of the long-awaited initiative will spark resistance within various U.N. bodies, specifically the Security Council.
