Netanyahu held a conference call with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, who played a key role in drafting Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan for peace, which was unveiled at the White House in late January. Also on the call were Avi Berkowitz, the White House envoy on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer. That session came after Gantz met with Friedman, Hebrew media reports said.
According to a Channel 13 report, citing unnamed American sources, the US officials were exploring precisely if and how Israel intends to proceed with unilateral annexation — which Netanyahu has said would be coordinated with the administration — and came away from the conversations without a definitive answer. Quoting a senior Israeli source, the TV report also said that the Americans “want to downplay the enthusiasm” for imminent annexation — “to greatly slow the process” — because the administration is preoccupied, among other matters, with nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd by a policeman in Minneapolis last week, on top of the COVID-19 crisis and accompanying economic fallout.
On Monday afternoon, Gantz’s office issued a statement that the defense minister had ordered IDF chief Aviv Kohavi to “step up preparations for the IDF ahead of diplomatic efforts on the agenda in the Palestinian arena” — a clear reference to annexation. Netanyahu has vowed to unilaterally annex some 30 percent of the West Bank — covering all the settlements and the Jordan Valley — and reportedly told Likud MKs last week, “We have a target date in July to apply sovereignty and we will not change it.” -Full Report
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