The Trump administration has issued a fact sheet about the newly released peace proposal. You can read it here.
The full proposal has also been released, and can be viewed here.
Amir Peretz: Government has no legitimacy for diplomatic moves before election
Labor-Gesher-Meretz says Israel’s future must be decided in direct negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
He says its timing weeks before a national election means “there is no legitiamcy for the government to carry out diplomatic moves, despite American backing, and must be dealt with after the election.”
Hamas: Palestinians must unite to fight occupation on all fronts
Hamas says Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip “must unite to fight the occupation,” both on the ground, legally and diplomatically.
Khalil al-Hayya, member of Hamas’s Political Bureau, says Palestinians now need “a unified strategy… the world must see Palestinian outrage over the deal.”
Palestinian Abbas: ‘We’ll send US plan to dustbin of history, our rights are not for sale’
In his first public reaction to the newly announced US peace proposal, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas makes his opinion clear.“No, no and no to the ‘Deal of the Century,'” he says. “Jerusalem is not for sale. All of our rights are not for sale or bartering.”
He says the Palestinian people will send the US plan to “the dustbin of history.”
He calls the plan “the slap of the century” and says the Palestinians will respond to it with “slaps” of their own.
US Embassy in Israel warns Americans after Trump’s peace plan announcement
The US Embassy in Israel has issued a warning to American citizens following Trump’s peace plan announcement.
The embassy statement prohibits US government employees and their families from travel in most of Jerusalem’s Old City, the West Bank and Gaza Strip in light of “widespread calls for demonstrations” by Palestinians.
“United States citizens should avoid areas where crowds have gathered and where there is increased police and/or military presence,” the embassy statement says.
Arab League chief: Palestinian reaction to US plan will define Arab response
Arab League chief Ahmed Abuel-Gheit says the Palestinian reaction to the US peace plan will define the Arab response.
He spoke after meeting with Palestinian officials at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
Blue and White backs US plan, says Gantz should be the one to implement it
Blue and White says it is supportive of the new US peace plan, and that it is “entirely consistent with the principles of state and security espoused by Blue and White.”
It says the proposal “provides a strong, viable basis for advancing a peace accord with the Palestinians, while preserving the existing arrangements between Israel and Jordan and Egypt, and enabling their expansion to additional countries in the region.”
And it adds that to implement it, Israel needs “a strong and stable government, led by an individual who can direct the fullness of his time and energy toward ensuring the country’s security and its future” and not by “a defendant facing serious charges of bribery, who would be entirely steeped in his personal and legal interests.”
PM to bring annexation of Jordan Valley, all settlements for cabinet vote Sunday
Netanyahu tells reporters in Washington that he will bring the annexation of the Jordan Valley and all West Bank settlements for a vote in Sunday’s cabinet meeting.
American Ambassador to Israel David Friedman says Israel can move forward on annexation whenever it wishes.
Asked if Israel must wait to annex settlements that would be part of the Jewish state under the plan, Friedman tells reporters: “No, Israel does not have to wait at all.”
Jordan warns of ‘dangerous consequences’ to unilateral Israeli action
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warns of “dangerous consequences to unilateral steps by Israel, which threaten to create a new reality on the ground.”
He says a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the two-state solution, is “the only path to a lasting, comprehensive peace.”
Bennett: We support annexation, won’t allow Palestinian state
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett is naturally supportive of Israeli extending sovereignty “over all settlement” areas in the coming days.
However, he says, “We will not allow the Israeli government to recognize a Palestinian state under any circumstances.”
Settler leader: Plan far from perfect but we must act wisely
The head of the Efrat Regional Council in the West Bank, who deals with the Yesha settlement umbrella group’s foreign affairs, says the US plan “includes many achievements and alongside them difficult challenges for Israel and the settlements.”
Oded Revivi says the plan “is far from perfect” and says settler leaders must consider “how to realize and leverage the plan for Israel.”
He says though it may be difficult for settlers to swallow some of the proposal’s concessions, “we must act wisely and not just out of difficult gut feelings.”
US Middle East peace plan ‘could prove a positive step forwards,’ UK says
Britain gives a cautious welcome to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, after he unveiled his proposal with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
Downing Street says Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Trump earlier. “The leaders discussed the United States’ proposal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, which could prove a positive step forwards,” a spokesman says.
Palestinian protesters in Ramallah burn photos of Netanyahu, Trump
Palestinians are demonstrating in Ramallah in response to the US announcement of its peace plan which is seen as being more favorable towards Israel than any proposal in history.
The scope of the protests is not immediately clear, but photos show demonstrators burning photos of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.
US plan rules out Palestinian ‘right of return,’ sets out 3 options for refugees
The US peace proposal rules out the Palestinian “right of return,” and sets out three options to solve issue of Palestinian refugees.
It says “proposals that demand that the State of Israel agree to take in Palestinian refugees, or that promise tens of billions of dollars in compensation for the refugees, have never been realistic.” It says refugees “have been treated as pawns in the broader Middle East chessboard.”
It offers three options for refugees who want a permanent place of residence:
1. Absorption into the State of Palestine.
2. Local integration in current host countries (subject to those countries’ consent).
3. The acceptance of 5,000 refugees each year, for up to 10 years (50,000 total refugees), in individual Organization of Islamic Cooperation member countries who agree to participate.
US proposal includes possible transfer of Arab ‘triangle’ towns to Palestinians
The US peace proposal includes a reference to the possibility of land swaps that would see Israeli Arab towns in the so-called “triangle” southeast of Haifa handed over to Palestinian control — a possibility that has long been rejected by Israeli Arab leaders.
“These communities, which largely self-identify as Palestinian, were originally designated to fall under Jordanian control during the negotiations of the Armistice Line of 1949, but ultimately were retained by Israel for military reasons that have since been mitigated.”
It “contemplates the possibility, subject to agreement of the parties that the borders of Israel will be redrawn such that the Triangle Communities become part of the State of Palestine.”
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, who has been espousing a population transfer for years, notices this clause and “welcomes President Trump… adopting my 2004 plan.”
Shaked, settler leaders back annexation, reject Palestinian state
Right-wing and settler leaders are issuing statements with a similar gist, voicing full-throated support for annexing settlements and the Jordan Valley as soon as possible, but ruling out any Palestinian state.
Yamina’s Ayalet Shaked, the head of the Samaria Regional Council and the head of the Har Hebron Regional Council all make comments to that effect.
Peace Now: US plan ‘as detached from reality as it is eye-catching’
Left-wing group Peace Now says the Trump peace plan is “as detached from reality as it is eye-catching. The plan’s green light for Israel to annex isolated settlements in exchange for a perforated Palestinian state is unviable and would not bring stability.”“This is not how peace is built.”
It says: “Any outline that does not include the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the pre-1967 lines with minor land swaps, the evacuation of deep settlements and two capitals in Jerusalem will find its way into the dustbin of history.”
Israeli military intel chief: Peace proposal may spark instability
The head of Israeli Military Intelligence says US President Donald Trump’s peace proposal may spark instability within Palestinian society and throughout the Arab world, but refrains from making larger predictions.
Maj. Gen. Tamir Hyman, speaking in Tel Aviv at the same time as the unveiling of Trump’s plan, says the deciding factor for the immediate ramifications of the plan will be how it is received by young people and average citizens, and how they will force their governments to act.
“We haven’t seen [the plan] yet, but we assume that it will have an impact on the region,” Hyman says.
Odeh: Plan gives green light to revoke citizenship of Arab citizens of Israel
Head of the Joint List, MK Ayman Odeh, says of the US peace proposal’s acceptance of a potential redrawing of borders that would turn Israeli Arab towns into part of Palestine: “This is the inevitable end-point of Trump and Bibi’s racist agenda, a green light to revoke the citizenship of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arab citizens who live in northern Israel.
“We are at a crossroads. All of us — Arab and Jewish — who believe in democracy and peace must decide to stand together and refuse to allow these despots to strip our brothers and sisters of their citizenship.”
EU foreign policy chief says will study US plan, supports return to negotiations
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the US peace proposal is “an occasion to relaunch the urgently needed efforts towards a negotiated and viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
He says the EU will study the plan, based on its commitment to “a negotiated and viable two-state solution that takes into account the legitimate aspirations of both the Palestinians and the Israelis.”
He says the union “reaffirms its readiness to work towards the resumption of meaningful negotiations to resolve all permanent status issues and to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
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