Netanyahu says ‘honest, authentic’ meeting with Jason Greenblatt failed to yield coordinated policy, but process is ongoing
March 14, 2017
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday evening that talks with US President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, did not yield an agreement for a coordinated US-Israeli position on West Bank settlements, but described the meeting as “good” and “honest.”
“I have to say that I had good conversations, in-depth ones. I can’t say we finished or came to an agreement,” he told reporters at a press conference.
“We’re in a process, but it’s a process of mutual dialogue, authentic and honest in the positive sense,” Netanyahu said. That process, he added, is “not yet visible to media.”
Netanyahu and Greenblatt met for over five hours on Monday. During the meeting, Trump’s public appeal to the prime minister to rein in settlement building was raised.
Netanyahu sought US approval to build a new West Bank settlement as compensation for the residents of the evacuated outpost of Amona during the talks. He had promised Amona residents a new settlement in exchange for a peaceful evacuation of the illegally built community.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said the two men discussed Israeli settlement policy “in the hope of working out an approach that is consistent with the goal of advancing peace and security.”
PM Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at the White House, February 15, 2017 (Avi Ohayun/GPO)
Greenblatt took to Twitter later on Monday to say that he and Netanyahu “discussed [the] regional situation, how progress towards peace with Palestinians can be made & settlements.”
Greenblatt met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday.
Many on the Israeli right had anticipated that Trump would be more supportive of the settlement enterprise than his predecessor Barack Obama. However, last month, Trump publicly asked the prime minister to “hold back on settlements a little bit.” He also said that Israeli settlements “don’t help” in negotiating a peace agreement.
Netanyahu was reportedly seeking Washington’s approval for unfettered building in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and within “city limits” of West Bank settlements.
The Trump administration’s assent to building in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem annexed by Israel would represent a change in position from the Obama years; the previous administration routinely criticized all building beyond the pre-1967 Green Line. The administration of George W. Bush reached understandings with the government of Ariel Sharon to the effect that Israel would not return to the pre-1967 lines in any permanent peace accord, and recognizing the major settlement blocs, and some analysts believe that the Trump administration might revive such understandings.
Greenblatt’s visit marks the first major attempt by the new US administration to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after two months that have seen officials dither on support for the two-state solution, the location of the US Embassy and building in settlements.