The anatomy of annexation – why did Netanyahu walk back his promise?

The full story has yet to be revealed, but diplomatic sources said late Tuesday night that the US was surprised by Netanyahu’s promise to immediately annex West Bank territory.

JANUARY 29, 2020 16:58

U.S. President Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu at the unveiling of Trump's "Deal of the Century," January 28, 2020 (photo credit: KOBI GIDEON/GPO) — U.S. President Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu at the unveiling of Trump's "Deal of the Century," January 28, 2020

(photo credit: KOBI GIDEON/GPO)

On Tuesday afternoon, at noon in Washington, US President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited peace deal for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After Trump introduced the framework of the deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the podium and declared, in a 20-minute speech, that Israel accepted the plan and would soon begin its implementation.

“Israel will apply its laws to the Jordan Valley, to all the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and to other areas that your plan designates as part of Israel and which the United States has agreed to recognize as part of Israel,” the prime minister said.

Immediately after the event at 1:46 p.m. in Washington, Netanyahu’s spokesman Yonatan Urich tweeted: “Sovereignty over all settlements on Sunday.”

As Urich tweeted, Netanyahu was meeting with the Israeli press corps that had traveled with him to Washington at the Blair House, across the street from the White House. There, he told reporters that he would bring a proposal to the cabinet meeting on Sunday to immediately apply Israeli law and annex all of the Jordan Valley and the Israeli settlements spread out across Judea and Samaria, which comprises approximately 30% of the West Bank.

As the Blair House briefing was taking place, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman held an on-record phone call with reporters to update them on the finer details of the plan. He said that from America’s perspective, Israel could go ahead and annex territory.

“Israel does not have to wait at all,” Friedman said. “If they wish to apply Israeli law to those areas allocated to Israel, we will recognize it.”

"Israel does not have to wait at all," Friedman said. "The waiting period would be the time it takes for them to obtain internal approvals." Netanyahu said he will submit annexation of Jewish settlements for approval as early as Sunday, per @kbenme
— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) January 28, 2020

Shortly after Friedman and Netanyahu finished their briefings, at 3:30 p.m. in Washington, Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president and the chief architect behind the peace plan, went on CNN and said that he was not aware of immediate annexation plans.

"I don't believe that's going to happen this weekend, at least not as far as I know," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter

Subscribe Now

Will Israel immediately start imposing Israeli law on the territories assigned to it in the new proposed White House peace plan?Jared Kushner: "Yeah, I don't believe that's going to happen this weekend. At least not as far as I know." pic.twitter.com/u8B09nIoUn
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) January 28, 2020

Shortly after the Kushner interview aired, Urich deleted his tweet. He did not give an explanation why.

It appears that Mr Netanyahu’s spokesman, Mr Urich, has deleted his tweet announcing plans for full #Israel annexation on Sunday.Here is a screenshot: pic.twitter.com/sSJ3ZshKhI
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 28, 2020

Final word on the walk back of Netanyahu’s annexation promise came on Wednesday morning when Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who was in Washington with the prime minister, went on Army Radio and said that the proposal would not be brought to the cabinet on Sunday due to “technical reasons.”

At 7 a.m. in Washington on Wednesday, sources close to Netanyahu said that he will bring the proposal to the "next cabinet meeting" but not on Sunday. Why not Sunday? Apparently there is no cabinet meeting that day.

What happened? Did Netanyahu walk back his promise – and if so, why?

The full story has yet to be revealed, but diplomatic sources said late Tuesday night that the US was surprised by Netanyahu’s promise – just after the unveiling of the plan – to immediately annex West Bank territory.

The US officials thought that while Israel would move forward with annexation, it would take time, due to planning issues and other bureaucratic hurdles that the government would first need to overcome. They did not realize that it would be so immediate, a decision likely prompted by Netanyahu’s legal and political troubles.

The Americans were apparently expecting a number of Arab states to issue statements that were supposed to voice support for the plan. Some countries did cautiously welcome the plan – Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – but Oman and Bahrain – which took the extraordinary step of sending their ambassadors to the White House’s roll-out ceremony – remained silent, possibly due to the annexation announcement.

Will Netanyahu bring annexation to the government within the coming week or weeks? Unclear. For now, it seems that the White House has asked Jerusalem to hold back on unilateral steps and to first give the plan a chance to advance.