Trump Says to Release ‘Mideast Plan’ Soon
He has invited Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his challenger in upcoming elections, Benny Gantz, to Washington next week.
While in the occupied Palestinian territories, US Vice President Mike Pence extended the invitations Thursday, saying, “President Trump asked me to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week to discuss regional issues, as well as the prospect of peace here in the Holy Land.”
Speaking alongside Netanyahu at the US Embassy in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds, Pence added that Trump had also invited Gantz to come to the White House for a preview of the so-called peace plan.
Netanyahu accepted the invitation, claiming, “I think that the president is seeking to give Israel the peace and security it deserves.”
Meanwhile, Trump said Thursday that he planned to release his plan before his meeting with Israeli leaders on Tuesday, according to Press TV.
“Sometime prior to that. Probably we’ll release it a little bit prior to that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to Florida.
That US plan on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which is widely reported to be biased towards the Tel Aviv regime — has already been unanimously rejected by all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is leading the so-called effort, which began in the first months of Trump’s presidency.
In December, Trump said, “If Jared Kushner can’t do it, it can’t be done.”
Kushner has claimed the plan would include elements that Israel will not like, however, Trump has taken a series of steps widely seen to tip the scales in favor of Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has rejected the US new move.
“This step only reaffirms our absolute rejection of what the US administration has done so far, particularly the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” Abbas’s spokesman said in a statement.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that they "warn Israel and the US administration not to cross any red lines".
Palestinians stopped recognizing the US as a mediator in the conflict with the Tel Aviv regime in 2017, after Trump recognized occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” in defiance of international law.
