The United States will not release the long-delayed political portion of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan before Israel’s elections next month, White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt said on Wednesday.
The move, announced in a tweet by Greenblatt, keeps the plan’s details from becoming an issue in the election, in which the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, is at stake.
The US will not release the long-delayed political portion of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan before Israel’s elections next month, says White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt#FreePalestine ?? https://t.co/x8FOim8qBV
— Socialist Voice ? (@SocialistVoice) August 29, 2019
Greenblatt said on Twitter:
“We have decided that we will not be releasing the peace vision (or parts of it) prior to the Israeli election.”
Trump on Monday had said the plan might be revealed before the Israeli election.
At a campaign rally on Wednesday, Netanyahu said he expected the US proposal would not be delayed for much longer.
Trump admin won’t release any parts of its Israeli-Palestinian "peace" plan before the Israeli election on 9/17, according to Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt https://t.co/Phg0vEjlpB
— AmericansforPeaceNow (@PeaceNowUS) August 28, 2019
Netanyahu said:
“This evening we learned that President Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ would be published and presented to the world after the election. I can reasonably estimate that it will happen very soon after the election.”
We have decided that we will not be releasing the peace vision (or parts of it) prior to the Israeli election.
— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) August 28, 2019
Trump’s Middle East team, including Kushner, had wanted to roll out the plan during the summer but Netanyahu’s failure to put together a governing coalition after April elections prompted a delay.
Netanyahu now faces a fresh vote on September 17 and, if successful, will try again to form a coalition.
(Al Jazeera, PC, Social Media)
