Netanyahu to i24NEWS: ‘I hope we won’t have to say no’ to Trump’s peace plan
i24NEWS
Netanyahu says ‘coming from a friend’ he expects Trump’s plan will take Israel’s interests into consideration
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Monday that he believes President Donald Trump’s long-awaited peace plan — expected to be published imminently following Israel’s national elections on Tuesday — will “include everything we want,” but raised the possibility of rejecting the offer if it doesn’t.
In an exclusive and broad-ranging interview for i24NEWS-Israel Hayom’s joint election special less than 48-hours before Israelis begin casting ballots, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “coming from a friend” he expects the plan will take into consideration Israel’s interests, including maintaining security presence in the West Bank and a united Jerusalem.
“We have to give president Trump a chance, I don’t know what will ultimately be presented but I believe they respect what I have suggested,” Netanyahu said. “My guess is that coming from a friend, they will consider most of what I just said.”
Trump has previously stated that both sides would have to make concessions in any final settlement and that the Israeli government would “pay a higher price” in return for his recognition of Jerusalem and his relocation of the US embassy there.
“I hope we don’t have to say no,” Netanyahu said of the plan.
During the interview, Netanyahu repeated his vow not to uproot a single Israeli settler from the West Bank, saying doing so would be tantamount to “ethnic cleansing”.
The premier, who is in the midst of a hard-fought battle for re-election, reiterated his vow to extend Israel’s sovereignty to settlements in the West Bank if he wins another term, but clarified that he has no intentions of annexing all of the West Bank.
“I did not say I would annex the West Bank, I said I would apply Israeli law to Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria,” Netanyahu affirmed, using a biblical term to refer to the territory of the West Bank.
“I said time and time again, I will not remove a single Israeli forcibly, I am against ethnic cleansing,” he added.
Over the course of more than ten years in power, Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected relinquishing Israeli military control over territory west of the Jordan River. Israel maintains full security and administrative control over the West Bank’s “Area C”, which comprises some 60% of the territory.
Many of Netanyahu’s right-wing political rivals openly call for the annexation of Area C, where most major Israeli settlement blocs are concentrated, while others call for the application of Israeli sovereignty over the entire West Bank where some 430,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.6 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s pledge to extend sovereignty over settlements were criticized domestically as a ploy to appeal to right-wing voters, and internationally as a threat to the two-state solution.
– ‘The main lesson from Gaza is not to repeat it’ –
Defending his policy in the Gaza Strip — which has come under stark criticism by his political rivals who seek to erode his reputation as “Mr Security” — Netanyahu said that the trio of generals heading up the centrist Blue & White party — Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya’alon, Gabi Ashkenazi – have not suggested any novel security policies.
“They (the ex-IDF chiefs) have not realized that the main lesson of Gaza is not to repeat it in Judea & Samaria,” Netanyahu said.
“I do not wish recreate a Hama-stan that is twenty times the size,” he said, referring to the 2005 Israeli disengagement from the coastal enclave that, following a rift with Fatah led to Hamas’ seizure of power.
“There was a possibility of conquering Gaza…it is not something that I can rule out completely,” Netanyahu tells i24NEWS
Netanyahu’s former coalition was thrown into chaos in November when Avigdor Liberman, who served as defense minister, quit the post and pulled his party from the government over sharp disagreement with the premier’s policy in the Strip, including an agreement to allow millions of dollars of Qatari funding into the enclave in exchange for relative calm on the border.
But Netanyahu appeared to champion his ability to respond to periodic flare-ups in a “measured way”, noting that “not a single Israeli was killed” in the four and a half years since Israel’s last war with Hamas.
“There was a possibility of conquering Gaza, but it would draw a lot of blood from our people but it is not something that I can rule out completely,” he told i24NEWS. However, he explained that he was would continue to act “responsibly” even if it would cost him politically.
As violence has continued to spill into Israel in the form of weekly riots and the launch of rockets and incendiary devices across the border, Netanyahu’s rivals have accused the long-serving premier of not acting strongly enough to quell the tensions and of abandoning Israeli citizens living in proximity to Gaza.
“Israel has to defend itself against any enemy, I don’t need international guarantees”
When pressed on whether he would negotiate with Hamas, he clarified that communication with the Islamist organization was “not about a peace deal” and said he would, via proxies, focus on returning Israeli citizens, slain soldiers and MIA’s.
As the date for unveiling long-awaited and widely-anticipated US peace plan draws near, Netanyahu threw his weight behind his American ally and said Israel should give US President Donald Trump a chance at making peace adding that he believes Washington will take Israel’s interests into consideration.
Watch the full i24NEWS interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here!
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