Palestine Economy Portal

The former US envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, said that the implementation of the plan to annex parts of the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty has been postponed, so that the plan is still included and has not been canceled.

Greenblatt's statements came in an interview with the Occupation Army Radio, where he stressed that "the term used by the three parties in the agreement with the Emirates is the suspension of annexation, not its cancellation."

The former US envoy added, "Personally, I still support the application of sovereignty in the West Bank, and the issue of annexation still exists and has not been dropped from the agenda."

Commenting on the Israeli-Emirati alliance agreement, the former US envoy clarified that Israel had shown flexibility in concluding an arms deal between America and the UAE, but stressed that "Israel will not agree to any arms deal that would pose a threat to it, even for one second."

Greenblatt, who contributed to drafting the US President’s peace plan in the Middle East, known as the "Deal of the Century", affirmed that Israel has not given up on imposing sovereignty over parts of the West Bank and settlements in exchange for signing the normalization agreement with the UAE.

He explained that the three parties, namely America, Israel and the UAE, chose the term "postponement", with an agreement between them to deal with the West Bank file at a later time, stressing that this is "a major diplomatic achievement."

Greenblatt's statements chime with what was stated by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who denied what was announced by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, that Israel had abandoned the annexation plan, in order to justify the Israeli-American alliance under American auspices.

"There is no change in my plan to implement the annexation plan in the West Bank settlements, in full coordination with the United States," Netanyahu said.

He added, "The plan was not canceled, but it was temporarily postponed, at the request of US President Donald Trump."