Blue and White leader and prime minister-designate Benny Gantz is reportedly pushing to shelve Israel's plan to extend sovereignty to large parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, saying it would be best to focus instead on improving conditions for Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the area, two cabinet ministers said on Friday.
The controversial sovereignty bid was introduced as part of the US's Middle East peace plan, rolled out in January, and envisions applying Israeli law to about 30% of Judea and Samaria. The move has met fierce objections from the Palestinian Authority, which warned pushing it through would essentially render the 1993 Oslo Accords – the basis for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – null and void, as well as from the UN, EU, and Arab leaders have warned the plan was in violation of international law and would doom the already moribund regional peace process.
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While the coalition deal inked between Netanyahu and Gantz stipulates that discussions on the move could begin in parliament as of July 1, the plan has been sidelined by a resurgence of coronavirus.
Gantz said the health crisis should take precedence over any move in Judea and Samaria that may inflame conflict with the Palestinians. His misgivings have complicated Israeli efforts to present a united front on extended sovereignty and how they might fit with US President Donald Trump's plan for Middle East peace.
While Gantz, whose popularity has plunged since he broke with an opposition alliance to join Netanyahu in March, has limited political clout, his role as defense minister also puts him directly in charge of civilian activities in the West Bank.
Agriculture Ministe Alon Schuster (Blue and White) said he was working to achieve "cultivation and not annexation, now" for West Bank farmers.
"We need to bring water to the Jordan Valley – for both the Israelis and the Palestinians who live there, by the way – and to improve electricity," Schuster told local radio station 102 FM. "Why quarrel and waste time? I hope we expend our national resources on this."
Another Blue and White minister said this was also Gantz's approach, and that the party leader believed working on West Bank infrastructure shared by settlers and Palestinians would "enable coexistence in accordance with the Trump plan".
The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment.
Senior ministers from Netanyahu's Likud party have urged to pursue the plan without delay. Behind closed doors, some have expressed concern that Trump's interest will wane as the US election in November nears, and that should he lose, that would close a window of opportunity for the extended sovereignty move.
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