Israel to Reinforce Jordan Valley Troops Ahead of Trump Plan

(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s military said it would deploy additional troops in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, hours ahead of the planned unveiling of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

Trump is widely expected to produce a proposed solution to the decades-old conflict that is favorable to Israel over the Palestinians, whose leaders have spurned talks with the U.S. administration after accusing it of skewing policy. The U.S. has moved its embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and proclaimed that Israeli settlements in the West Bank aren’t necessarily illegal.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority president, called the Trump plan “a conspiracy aimed at undermining the rights of our Palestinian people and thwarting the establishment of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The Jordan Valley section of the West Bank is part of the area claimed by Palestinians for a future state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long vowed to annex the valley captured during the 1967 Middle East war, and has revisited the promises as he seeks an edge in a third election in less than a year on March 2.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alisa Odenheimer in Jerusalem at aodenheimer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Michael Gunn

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