Friedman: Settlers Should Want To Wait For Annexation To Be Done Right
By Staff Reporter
Posted on 02/06/20
| News Source: JPost
US ambassador provides clarity in the confusion over the timing of US recognition of Israeli settlement annexation.
Waiting for annexation, rather than having it be done immediately, is in the interest of West Bank settlers, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.Friedman sought to provide clarity in the confusion over the timing of US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over 30% of Judea and Samaria under the Trump administration’s peace plan, which they call a “vision.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the immediate aftermath of the plan’s presentation that he would annex settlements the following week, but amended that to after the March 2 election in remarks this week. This came after Special Advisor to the US President Jared Kushner repeatedly said that annexation could take a few months and would come after the election.Though it appeared at first that Netanyahu and Kushner’s statements were at odds with one another, Friedman said “there has never been a substantive disagreement on these issues.”Friedman pointed out that US President Donald Trump referred in his address presenting the plan “to a committee being formed to work through the process of converting the conceptual map into a detailed rendering such that Israel could apply its laws in a precise manner and the US could recognize such application.”That committee would be responsible for “going from a conceptual map drawn at a scale of more than a million to one, to specific borders,” The process of doing so “is not duly protracted, but [is] certainly one that is careful and deliberative,” and requires “judgment calls,” the ambassador said.“I would think the residents of Judea and Samaria would want Israel to get those right,” he added. Read more at JPost