Monitoring Desk
JERUSALEM: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he would “share” US views with Israeli leaders on how best to implement the Trump peace plan, including the annexation of West Bank territory, during his lightning visit to Israel Wednesday.
Pompeo will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister-designate Benny Gantz during his visit.
In an interview with Hayom daily published a day before the visit, he declined to confirm or deny reports in Israel that the White House was asking Israel to delay any annexation move in the West Bank.
Asked if that was the point of his visit, Pompeo didn’t answer directly, but said the decision on any application of sovereignty to parts of the West Bank was ultimately up to Israel.
“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 told the newspaper.
“We will certainly share with them our views on the best way, in our judgment, to proceed, consistent with what we have laid out in our Vision for Peace,” he added.
Pressed further on whether the US “green light” for Israel’s extension of sovereignty was still in force, Pompeo again declined to answer directly. “I am going to hear how they are thinking about [it],” he said. “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 reiterated the Trump administration’s view that the White House’s peace plan, unveiled on January 28, “meets the core requirements of both the Palestinians and Israeli people.”
And he added: “We hope that we can convince the Palestinian leadership that they should engage with the Israelis on the basis of the Vision for Peace,” the document delineating the plan.
Pompeo’s visit comes a day before Israel’s 35th government is set to be installed on Thursday, ending 16 months of political turmoil wrought by three inconclusive elections.
