US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not hide on Tuesday reports saying Israel could consider delaying a controversial push to annex parts of the West Bank, adding that the White House took into consideration the Arabs’ concern about the plan.
“We took account of the Arabs’ concerns in the Vision for Peace. We have created now a plan that leads to a better life for the Palestinian people, and that's important to those Arab countries as well,” Pompeo told the Israel Hayom newspaper.
The US official landed in Tel Aviv Wednesday for talks on regional security and Israel's plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
Pompeo will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Speaker of the Knesset Benny Gantz in Jerusalem to discuss US and Israeli efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as regional security issues related to Iran’s malign influence and the implementation of the administration's newly unveiled peace plan. He will meet not US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who is said by an embassy spokesman to be displaying "mild upper respiratory symptoms" although he has tested negative for COVID-19.
The newspaper said Pompeo’s visit to Jerusalem is one of his rare trips in recent months. “Upon his appointment two years ago, he flew to Israel on the very same day. Now that Israel is finally about to swear in a government, the pro-Israeli secretary is back,” it wrote.
Asked if there is a specific reason for his visit to Israel, the US Secretary of State said, “There are a whole range of issues that I want to discuss. The continued threats from Iran, and how we will work together to deter them and to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon.”
Lately, a report published in Israel said Pompeo is going to ask the prime minister and Gantz to delay this Vision for Peace.
“I have said previously that this is a decision that the Israelis will make. I want to understand how the new leadership, the soon-to-be new government, is thinking about that,” he said.
Asked whether Israel had the green light to implement the annexation as was agreed in January, Pompeo said he wanted to hear how the Israelis are thinking about it.
“This is, in the end, an Israeli decision. We will certainly share our judgments as to how we can best execute the Vision for Peace that the prime minister agreed with, and we will have a good detailed conversation about that,” he said.
The US official said he hoped that the US could convince the Palestinian leadership that they should engage with the Israelis on the basis of the Vision for Peace.
Commenting on the objections among some of the Arab states in the region like Jordan and the Gulf states, he said, “We have been in contact with all these countries. They are good friends and partners. We took account of their concerns in the Vision for Peace.”
Touching on the Iranian file, Pompeo said next October, Tehran will have the ability to build up their conventional weapon systems in ways that would make it even more possible for them to conduct terror around the world and to coerce and extort nations around the world, giving them even more space to continue to execute a plan to ultimately increase the risk that they have a nuclear weapon someday.
