Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he expects the United States will release its long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan shortly after Israel's Sept. 17 election.
"This evening we learned that President Trump's 'deal of the century' would be published and presented to the world after the election," he told a campaign rally following an announcement by White House envoy Jason Greenblatt.
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"I can reasonably estimate that it will happen very soon after the election," the prime minister said.
Greenblatt said on Twitter: "We have decided that we will not be releasing the peace vision prior to the Israeli election."
US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been working behind the scenes on the plan to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although Palestinians, who say the Trump administration is too pro-Israel, say the plan is dead in the water.
A goal to raise tens of billions of dollars to fund the plan was announced earlier this year, but the political details have remained under wraps, with Kushner refusing to say even whether it would offer Palestinians a state of their own.
Trump's Middle East team, including Kushner, had wanted to roll out the plan during the summer but Netanyahu's failure to put together a governing coalition after the April elections prompted a delay.
Netanyahu now faces a fresh vote on Sept. 17 and, if successful, will try again to form a coalition.
Announcing a peace plan before Sept. 17 could have complicated a tight race in which Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and its strongest rival – Blue and White, led by former IDF chief Benny Gantz – are running neck and neck in the polls.
Netanyahu has praised Trump's policy moves such as the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and his recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
But any perceived concessions toward the Palestinians in the peace plan in the run-up to a ballot only three weeks away could potentially harm Netanyahu's chances of remaining in office.
Netanyahu has campaigned for votes partly by highlighting his close relationship with Trump, whom he has featured on election billboards.
"Who do you want to negotiate with President Trump on the 'deal of the century?'" Netanyahu asked the crowd at Wednesday's rally. "Me, at the head of a right-wing and Likud government, or Gantz and [Blue and White co-leader Yair] Lapid?" he asked.
"That's the question in this election because we will be faced, full force, with the [peace] issue in a few weeks' time," he said.
