Netanyahu Confirms: US Peace Plan to be Rolled Out Only after Election

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu confirmed that US President Donald Trump’s years-in-the-making Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal would be released only after the Jewish state’s September 17 election. “Who do you want to be dealing with talks over the ‘Deal of the Century’ of President Trump, which will be coming in just a bit, immediately after the elections?” Netanyahu waxed rhetorically on Tuesday at an election campaign event, using a moniker for the peace plan. In June, the White House rolled out the economic elements of its proposal at a conference in Bahrain, albeit to little fanfare. In fact, many criticized President Trump for bifurcating between the financial and political components of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the latter of which includes core issues such as the delineation of borders and the future status of Jerusalem. The strategy has infuriated the Palestinian Authority, which imposed a boycott on all US officials following President Trump’s December 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Netanyahu has insisted that he would engage in the Trump Administration’s peace push if reelected, although he has reportedly conveyed to the US leader his opposition to uprooting any Jews living in the West Bank.