Nikki Haley: ‘Israel should not be worried’ about US peace plan
Ex-US ambassador to UN says she has read the plan and ‘it is very thoughtful.’ She emphasizes plan aims to not hurt Israel’s security.
Nikki Haley
Israelis have nothing to fear from the Trump administration’s peace plan, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said.
Speaking to Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth on Thursday in New York, Haley said that she had read the administration’s peace plan, and thinks that “it is very thoughtful, and very well done and it very much takes into account both sides’ vulnerabilities and both sides’ wants.”
She asserted that “Israel should not be worried” the US will demand something from Israel in return for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.
“Through the Middle East plan, one of the main goals that Jared Kushner [President Donald Trump’s senior strategic adviser] and [US Special Representative for International Negotiations] Jason Greenblatt focused on was to not hurt the national security interests of Israel. They understand the importance of security, they understand the importance of keeping Israel safe.”
“I think everybody needs to go into it with an open mind, everybody should want a peace plan,” Haley said. “Everybody should want to make way for a better situation in Israel and I think it can happen. So rather than pushing back against what we don’t know, I hope everybody would lean in on what the possibilities of what the peace plan could look like and think of a better life for everyone.”
Asked if she thinks the plan has a chance of succeeding, Haley said, “I am an optimist. It’s not going to be easy. Both sides won’t love it. And both sides won’t hate it. But both sides have to want peace. And if they do, they will be deciding the details. Not the US. And I think it is worth taking that chance. It is worth trying for.”
Nevertheless, she added that “At this point, it is hard to see an opportunity in which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is even going to come to the table, and I think that … it shows Abbas’ true colors. It shows the Arab community’s true colors, that they [the Arab states] don’t really care about the Palestinians, because if the Palestinians were that much of a priority, everybody would be holding Abbas’ hand and leading him to the table. Everybody and Abbas himself would want better.”
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Content retrieved from: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264532.
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