Peace plan to be released only after Israel's elections, says Greenblatt
That is the first time after long weeks of speculations that the administration is announcing an official position on that matter.
By OMRI NAHMIASUS President Donald Trump(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – The political chapter of the Trump administration’s peace plan will not be released before the elections in Israel on September 17, special envoy Jason Greenblatt tweeted Wednesday.That is the first time, after long weeks of speculations, the administration has announced an official position on the matter.Greenblatt’s tweet comes only two days after US President Donald Trump suggested that he might release the plan. “I think you may see what the deal is before the election,” he told reporters at the G7 summit. “And I think the deal will happen. Everybody says that’s the deal that can’t be made, Israel and the Palestinians. There’s tremendous hatred for many, many decades, and everybody says that is a deal that can’t be made. So we’ll see if we can make it.”During the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York on June 16, Greenblatt discussed the timeline to roll out the political component of the peace plan and said it might be postponed until a new government in Israel is formed, around November 6. He added that after the late delay in rolling out the plan due to Israel’s April election, the Trump administration would not lay out in advance a specific timeline.Last month, he said that the peace team is “aiming for a home run” that would solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered.“We are aiming for a comprehensive solution,” he said in an interview with the radio station. “I am not saying we would hit the home run, but we are aiming for the home run.”He added that interim solutions have been examined in the past, and that the current administration is trying to combine a political solution to the conflict with an economic one.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he expects the United States will release its long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan shortly after Israel's Sept 17 election."This evening we learned that President Trump's 'deal of century' would be published and presented to the world after the election," he told a campaign rally following an announcement by White House envoy Jason Greenblatt. "I can reasonably estimate that it will happen very soon after the election."
