Israel has every right to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, one of the architects of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan said on Sunday.
In an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post, Jason Greenblatt, the former US envoy to the Middle East, wrote that he strongly objected to the idea that the territories represented "Palestinian land," and that Israel's plan to apply its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank were illegal.
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"It is not Palestinian land. It is land that is disputed, and the only way to resolve this is if the two sides can negotiate a settlement of the dispute directly together. But that has proven to be elusive. This is one of the main reasons we drafted the vision for peace in the manner that we did," the former envoy wrote.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to quickly and unilaterally extend Israeli sovereignty to about 30% of Judea and Samaria in a decision drawing considerable international pushback.
Greenblatt, however, believes it is Israel's prerogative to follow through on the sovereignty bid.
"I personally support the move, but my personal opinion is not relevant. I am not Israeli. It will be the decision of Israel's democratically elected government whether to move forward with this."
Greenblatt and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, as well as the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, have led the effort to develop a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians during the early stages of Trump's four-year term beginning in 2017.
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The Palestinians have rejected the roadmap as biased toward Israel, leading to a rupture of diplomatic ties between Ramallah and Washington.
Branding the Palestinian leadership "fractured perhaps beyond repair," Greeblatt wrote that "Our view was that the leadership in Ramallah should no longer have a veto on what happens to this land and to the Israelis living there."
This article was originally published by i24NEWS
