Pence Says Netanyahu, Gantz to Visit Washington Next Week
That the U.S. invited both Netanyahu and Gantz is a sign of the current dysfunction in Israeli politics.
(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Mike Pence invited Israeli political rivals Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz to Washington next week as the two leaders remain locked in a political stalemate.
Pence, who announced the invitation Thursday during a visit to Israel, said they will discuss issues including Middle East peace. The move may be a sign that Donald Trump’s administration is getting closer to revealing a long-promised peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians that the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was asked to prepare.
“The United States looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister @Netanyahu & Blue & White Chairman @Gantzbe to the @WhiteHouse next week,” Trump later wrote in a tweet. “Reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative.”
That the U.S. invited both Netanyahu and Gantz is a sign of the current dysfunction in Israeli politics. On March 2 the country will hold its third election in less than a year after two previous attempts resulted in no leader being able to cobble together a governing coalition.
Pence said Trump asked him to invite Netanyahu to the White House, and that Netanyahu urged the U.S. to invite Gantz as well. Netanyahu, the current prime minister, said he asked for the invitation to Gantz in order to get as broad a consensus as possible.
“The president is seeking to give Israel the peace and security that it deserves,” Netanyahu told Pence during a meeting at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. “So I gladly accept your invitation -- his invitation -- to come to Washington and discuss with him his ideas on how to advance peace and to work closely with him to advance that goal.”
The visit will occur as the second week of Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate is underway and may provide a welcome distraction for the president. Netanyahu has been hobbled by an indictment over alleged corruption late last year. He’s since asked parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution on those charges, a move that doesn’t have majority backing in the Knesset.
“The American administration is definitely concerned that the political situation in Israel won’t be resolved in the third round of elections,” said Oded Revivi, mayor of the Efrat settlement and an envoy for the pro-settler Yesha Council.
Netanyahu has said the Trump administration’s as-yet unseen Middle East peace plan presents Israel with “a historic, onetime chance to extend Israeli sovereignty over our settlements in Judea and Samaria, and also to other areas important to our security, our heritage, and our future.” Judea and Samaria are the biblical names for the West Bank.
Annexation Proposal
Gantz, a retired lieutenant general, vowed to work toward annexing West Bank land should he become the country’s next leader, in a ploy for right-wing votes that many analysts think would also play into the draft U.S. plan.
Palestinian leaders have spurned talks with the Trump administration, citing what they have called a series of moves showing favor toward Israel. Those include moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel sovereignty over the Golan Heights and proclaiming that Israeli settlements in the West Bank aren’t necessarily illegal.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority president, said that if a peace plan is announced, “The leadership will announce a series of measures in which we safeguard our legitimate rights, and we will demand Israel to assume its full responsibilities as an occupying power.”
--With assistance from Ivan Levingston and Fadwa Hodali.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Washington at mparker22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Bill Faries
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