Hundreds of Jewish clerics protested Friday Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley and sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning him against provoking the Palestinians, noting that peace and saving human life “are the true service to Judaism."
Their protest came as a high-ranking US delegation arrived in Tel Aviv to discuss the annexation with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
They also addressed the attempt of former US adviser Jason Greenblatt to convince settlers that the future Palestinian state, as determined in US President Donald Trump's plan, does not threaten their security.
The delegation included US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Presidential Envoy Avi Berkowitz, and member of the US-Israeli Cartographic Committee Scott Leith.
Berkowitz and Leith will remain in Israel for several days, where they will meet with Netanyahu, Gantz, and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, according to a US official.
Observers in Tel Aviv believe that talks among US officials on giving the green light to Israel’s annexation move haven’t reached final results, and that the timetable for implementing the plan is not yet clear, although Netanyahu has set a date for July 1.
Political sources in Tel Aviv revealed that the US administration is annoyed with Jewish settler criticism against Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Greenblatt spoke with settlement leaders via video conferencing, saying he wants to send a message to those opposing the annexation as part of Trump’s plan.
“Settlement leaders and the right-wing leadership should not attack President Trump and Jared Kushner. They need to explain what their concerns are without simply criticizing. It's not fair.”
He added that the establishment of a Palestinian state as set out in the Trump plan “does not affect or harm you.”
Regional Council chairman Yisrael Gantz responded that any Palestinian state between the river and the sea is a disaster for Israel, and it is contrary to the divine promise of the Jewish people.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert revealed that his government was close to reaching an agreement with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) on security arrangements that would keep the Jordan Valley as part of the Palestinian state and ensure security for Israel.
Olmert said that a consensus was formed in Israel claiming that the Jordan Valley is a strategic asset for its security.
“Anyone who continues to live in an atmosphere of fear as if it were still 1967 is apparently ignoring the fact that we are now in the year 2020 and the current geopolitical, militaristic, technological and political reality we live in today is quite different than it was back in 1967.”
He indicated that anyone who claims that the Jordan Valley is essential to Israel for security reasons, is either still living detached from reality or is trying to sell us a false story about a non-existent danger and useless security needs that have no basis in reality.
Olmert revealed that in 2008, the government held negotiations with the PA, Jordan, the Israeli army, and the US administration hoping to reach a political peace settlement that could establish a sovereign Palestinian state in an area comprising most of the West Bank.
The talks considered having international NATO forces stationed inside Jordanian territory, along what was supposed to be the eastern border of a future Palestinian state.
Then, Netanyahu came on the scene and ignored the changing circumstances, and he knows quite well that the Jordan Valley does not serve any urgent security need for Israel that would warrant its unilateral annexation at the present time, according to Olmert.
