Officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he may push for a decision on applying Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocks in Judea and Samaria before the March 2 elections, despite US reservations on the issue.
Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said in an interview released Wednesday that he hopes Israel will not annex settlements before the general vote.
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Kushner told Gzero Media, a global affairs website, that the US was preparing to discuss the technical details of annexation with Israel, but that this discussion "will take time."
When he was asked about Netanyahu's announcement to have a governmental vote next week on annexation, Kushner responded "let's see what happens. The hope is that they'll wait until after the election."
When Kushner was asked whether the Trump administration would support an immediate annexation measure, Kushner replied, "No, we've agreed with them on forming a technical team to start studying the maps."
Netanyahu had previously said to Israeli journalists that the settlements would be annexed as soon as Sunday but has since said he would make the decision at a later date.
Officials in the Prime Minister's Office expressed dismay over the apparent shift in Washington's decision, saying it would not necessarily affect how Netanyahu moves forward on the issue.
Meanwhile, Yamina head Defense Minister Naftali Bennett urged the prime minister to bring the issue of sovereignty to a government vote next week, as planned.
"Half a million residents in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley are longing for sovereignty, and it is within reach," the party said in a statement. "Yamina demands that PM Netanyahu act resolutely and bring the issue to a government vote next week, so as to apply Israeli sovereignty in all of Judea and Samaria. We will stand with him."
Meanwhile, the Otzma Yehudit party, headed by lawyer Itamar Ben Gvir, slammed the US's peace plan, calling it "a bad and dangerous deal that brings forth a Palestinian state, which will endanger Israel."
