Ashkenazi: No one is talking about annexation anymore
Ashkenazi said he speaks to his US counterpart, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a weekly basis.
By LAHAV HARKOVIsrael's new Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
Neither Jerusalem nor Washington is discussing extending Israel’s sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Wednesday.Asked on Army Radio if “annexation is off the agenda,” Ashkenazi responded: “No one is talking about it, justifiably… Not the Americans, either at the moment.”Ashkenazi said he speaks to his US counterpart, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a weekly basis.US President Donald Trump’s peace plan would allow Israel to apply its laws to up to 30% of Judea and Samaria, including all settlements and the Jordan Valley. The rest of the West Bank would the designated for a Palestinian state, to be established along with a massive international aid package if the Palestinian Authority and Hamas meet certain conditions, including demilitarization and granting its people civil rights. Both Palestinian factions rejected the plan.Despite the topic of expanding Israeli sovereignty not coming up in almost a month, Ashkenazi added: “I can’t say for sure that it is off the agenda.“If it comes back, without harming existing [peace] agreements and in dialogue with our neighbors… you will hear our stance again,” he said.Ashkenazi referred to July 1, the earliest date the coalition agreement between Blue and White and Likud would have allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring sovereignty moves to a vote: “There was nothing holy about that date, other than the people of Israel and their security.”Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, however, said that he spoke about annexation plans with his Israeli counterpart and with Pompeo, Irish news site The Journal reported.“We should do everything we can to discourage the annexation of land that is not Israeli land,” Coveney said in the Irish parliament on Tuesday. “I can understand why Irish people have been hugely frustrated by the actions that have damaged the progress to a two-state solution.”Coveney also said he opposes a bill to make it illegal to sell goods from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, because he believes direct engagement with Israel is more persuasive.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu and Pompeo both praised the Trump peace plan as uniquely able to bring results.“It’s the best and most realistic path forward to end the bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinian people and achieve enduring security, freedom and prosperity for both sides,” Pompeo said.Netanyahu said that the plan “has the potential to overcome past failures by offering the Palestinians the path of peace and reconciliation.”It “allow[s] us to reach the secure borders that Israeli governments have long sought” and “acknowledges that Jewish people are not foreign occupiers in Judea and Samaria,” he added.
