Friedman to ‘Post’: To annex, Netanyahu must tell Abbas he’ll negotiate state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must offer Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate, based on the establishment of a Palestinian State in 70% of the West Bank, for the US to support Israel moving forward with annexing the other 30%, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told The Jerusalem Post.

An interview with Friedman in honor of the second anniversary of the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem will be featured in Friday’s Jerusalem Post.

The first condition for the US to back for Israel applying sovereignty to all settlements, Biblical sites and the Jordan Valley is the completion of a map by the joint US-Israeli committee. Friedman said the committee, which began working in February, met in recent weeks. It is on track to finish mapping, pending “judgment calls in Israel’s court,” by July 1, the date Netanyahu set for annexation in his coalition agreement with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.

The second condition, about which there had been some confusion, is simply that Netanyahu show he is committed to US President Donald Trump’s peace plan and all it entails, including freezing settlement activity outside the 30% of Judea and Samaria delineated by the mapping committee, and express a willingness to negotiate with the Palestinians to form a state in the rest of the West Bank.

“Netanyahu needs to communicate that to Abu Mazen,” Friedman told The Post on Tuesday, referring to the PA president. “The expectation is that the prime minister will agree to negotiate, and if the Palestinians show up he will negotiate in good faith based on this plan.”

“I don’t see this as anything more than a commitment by the prime minister,” the ambassador added.

Friedman further clarified: “As a new government is formed, it would be appropriate for [support for the Trump plan] to be re-upped by the leader, and then to proceed in good faith on that basis.”

US support for settlement annexation is not contingent on the Palestinian response to Netanyahu’s willingness to hold talks.

“If the Palestinians refuse to show up, I’m not sure what else the prime minister can do, but I think there ought to be an unequivocal communication to the Palestinians that they are invited to negotiate in good faith on the president’s vision,” he said.

Friedman said he thinks Israel’s “commitment will endure through the rotation,” and expressed hope the Palestinians would respond to an invitation for peace talks.

No vote in the cabinet or Knesset on allowing for a Palestinian state would be necessary unless something came of the negotiation.

“I’m not going to prejudge what good faith means,” Friedman said.

Friedman expressed confidence that Israel could annex the parts of the West Bank mentioned in Trump’s plan with US approval by July 1, but said Israel is the one who has to make it happen.

“We will be ready to address this issue if Israel is ready,” he said. “Ultimately, as Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo said, it’s Israel’s decision. They have to decide what they want to do.”

The Trump administration’s “vision for peace” would allow Israel to annex 30% of the West Bank, including all settlements – about half of Area C, which Friedman emphasized includes “areas essential to Israel’s Biblical DNA” – and the entire Jordan Valley.

The plan would also would provide the Palestinians with a massive economic-aid package and support their establishing a state if they meet certain conditions, including demilitarization, instituting civil rights, stopping incitement and ending their payment scheme for terrorists.

The coalition agreement between Likud and Blue and White states that annexation can be brought to a vote in the cabinet or Knesset on July 1 at the earliest, “after discussion between the prime minister and alternate prime minister” and American agreement.

The agreement will be implemented “while aiming to protect Israel’s security and strategic interests, including the need to preserve regional stability, peace agreements and working toward future peace agreements.”

The agreement also says Gantz and Netanyahu will “promote peace agreements with all of our neighbors and promote regional cooperation in a variety of economic areas and in the coronavirus crisis.”