WarSclerotic

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s winning re-election was “a good sign for peace.”

“Everybody said you can’t have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians… I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won,” Trump said.

Trump made the remarks to reporters at the White House hours after Netanyahu secured a fifth term in office, which will likely make him the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton said the administration’s peace plan was likely to be released soon. “I think we’re going to see that coming out in the very near future,” Bolton said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu’s Likud party got a projected 35 seats, up from 30 in the current Knesset.

Initial exit polls initially predicted a tight race on Tuesday night, showing that the Blue and White center-left bloc would get more seats than Likud, but as the votes came in it became apparent that Likud and its allies had secured a majority in the Knesset.

An almost complete tally has both Likud and Blue and White tied at 35.

Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged Israel to abandon strong “rhetoric and populism” now that the elections were over.

Cavusoglu’s comments were in an apparent reference to Netanyahu’s recent pledge to annex Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria if he won the election.

The minister told Turkey’s NTV news channel on Wednesday that Israel “must put aside the populism and the rhetoric, it must abandon its aggressive stance.”

Cavusoglu also called on the United States to be an “honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying a U.S. peace plan for the region must be fair and objective toward Palestinians.

Also Wednesday, an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the outcome of Israel’s election raised Palestinian fears about an Israeli annexation of parts of Judea and Samaria.

Abbas aide Ahmed Majdalani says that Palestinians would seek the help of the international community to try to block any annexation plans. He said that the outcome of the election means a boost for what he called the “extreme right-wing camp” in Israeli politics.