BICOM

The Israeli Prime Minister told his party yesterday that the US President expects Israel to be accommodating in his attempts to seek peace between Israelis and the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned his Likud MKs that although the current US administration is very understanding of Israel’s needs, the country doesn’t have a “blank check” to do as it wishes concerning the Palestinians.

He said: “You heard President Trump. He came here, did extremely important things and touched us deeply, but he also said that he believes that Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] wants peace, and that I want peace. He also said that he believes that it is possible and necessary to arrive at an agreement.”

Netanyahu then added: “I am telling you this because we need to deal with this. I have to deal with this.”

The warnings to his Likud MKs coincides with suggestions that US special envoy Jason Greenblatt is seeking for Israel to transfer small pockets of land in the West Bank that are under full Israeli control (known as Area C) to fall under Palestinian civil control (known as Area B).

Last week the Israeli cabinet provided economic gestures to the Palestinians ahead of Trump’s visit to the region, of which one of the moves was to retroactively legalise around 20,000 Palestinian homes in Area C. The US administration are keen not only for the properties, which were built illegally under Israeli law, to be legalised, but for their status to change.

However, although the ministers agreed not to demolish the properties, there appears to be little appetite in the cabinet to change the status of the houses from Area C to Area B.

In March, the Israeli cabinet also set limitations on settlement construction in the West Bank after failing to reach formal understanding with the new US administration.