Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared to accept some Palestinian independence, provided that it would be a “state-minus, autonomy-plus” solution.
Speaking on Wednesday at the general assembly of the Jewish federations of North America held in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said that the “possible” solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was granting the Palestinians “all the powers to govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten us [Israel].”
He underlined Israel’s support to what he called a Palestinian “state-minus, autonomy-plus” solution in the West Bank, with Israel preserving its total security control over the West Bank and the Jordan River.
Political sources in Tel Aviv revealed on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump recently said in a statement that he was willing to put pressure on Netanyahu to accept the US peace plan, which is expected to be announced months later.
According to Channel 10 of Israeli television, Trump said during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month that he could be “tough” in his dealings with Netanyahu, as he did with the Palestinians.
The channel, which relied on western sources, said that Macron said his impression was that Netanyahu did not really want to push the peace process forward, but only sought to maintain the status quo. Trump replied that he was close to reaching the same conclusion.
On the other hand, a senior Israeli official said that the Israeli foreign ministry was certain that if Trump did not present his peace plan in the first weeks after the midterm elections in November, the French president would put forward his own peace initiative.
An Israeli parliamentary source quoted Foreign Ministry Political Director Alon Ushpiz as saying that besides the concern about the US peace plan, “Tel Aviv is concerned about the political initiative brewing in the Elysee Palace.”
