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2020 Off to a Roaring Start--Better Buckle Up

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Yohanan
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Seems everything is coming into focus in 20/20, I mean 2020 😉


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Well  ... the rollercoaster drama continues ... now we have Kushner suddenly flying back to Washington. I wonder where Avi Berkowitz is ...  perhaps he will be given the honors to unveil the plan?  Or are they just playing games with us saying they are going to roll out the plan and then quickly retracting back and making excuses? 🙁

 

Times of Israel.com

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner canceled his visit to Jerusalem for the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the last minute Wednesday.

A White House official cited weather related issues in Davos, Switzerland, where Kushner was accompanying US President Donald Trump for the World Economic Forum. The official said the weather delays “made an already tight schedule not possible.”

Kushner, who had been set to arrive Wednesday evening, will instead return to Washington, where the Senate has begun Trump’s impeachment trial.

Though Kushner will not be in Israel, Vice President Mike Pence is set to arrive Thursday for events at Yad Vashem marking 75 years since the liberation of Auschiwtz. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived earlier on Wednesday, with a delegation of seven Democrats and one Republican representative.

- Fair Use-


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Arthur
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The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Happy Robbie Burns day, btw. Smile
 

 


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Hold on to your seats ... the drama rollercoaster hasn’t derailed after all ... it made a sharp turn ... meetings will be held in Washington! :popcorn

 

Netanyahu, Gantz to go to Washington, reportedly ahead of peace plan unveiling

Times of Israel

By TOI STAFF   1/23/20, 7:13 pm

TV report says Trump’s proposal to be revealed next week, will be the most generous ever toward Israel; IDF said bracing for potential fallout in West Bank

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chair Benny Gantz will go to the White House next week for an update on US President Donald Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, US Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday evening during a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

The political rivals will reportedly fly to Washington on Tuesday, the same day as a Knesset plenum vote to establish the committee that will weigh Netanyahu’s request for parliamentary immunity from graft charges.

Netanyahu met Pence and David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, on Thursday evening at the American embassy in Jerusalem.

“We just completed a conversation about plans for next week. President Trump asked me to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week for talks” on regional issues, including peace, Pence said alongside the prime minister Thursday night.

“At the prime minister’s suggestion, I also extended an invitation to Benny Gantz,” he added, noting that the Blue and White leader had accepted the invitation.

I suggested that Benny Gantz be invited to this event as well because I think it is important that we not lose this historic opportunity with such friends in the White House,” Netanyahu said. “We should get as broad as consensus as possible.”

The plan will be unveiled next week, and is the most generous US proposal ever for Israel, an unsourced Channel 12 report said, likely providing for Israeli sovereignty over all West Bank settlements alongside a recognition of Palestinian statehood.

The network said the plan apparently includes a “significant moving of the [Israeli] border” eastwards, without specifying.

The Palestinian Authority, which has boycotted the US administration since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, is expected to reject the proposal.

Bracing for potential Palestinian unrest over the plan, the Israel Defense Forces will boost its level of preparedness next week in the West Bank, Channel 12 reported.

The White House is expected to make an announcement on its peace plan in the coming day, according to the reports.

The reports come amid growing speculation that Trump could release his plan before the March 2 elections in Israel.

Responding to the reports, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said his right-wing Yamina alliance would oppose any plan that includes “transferring land to Arabs or the establishing of a Palestinian state.

“President Trump, [Jared] Kushner and Ambassador [David] Friedman are true friends of Israel. It is likely that Israel faces a historic opportunity, along with significant risks,” he said in a statement.

Gantz met earlier Thursday with Pence for talks that Blue and White said were scheduled in advance.

“The two discussed diplomatic and security issues that concern regional developments,” a statement from the party said.

Gantz had long maintained that the United States should wait to publish the plan until after the election, but on Tuesday reversed course.

“I hope the president will move up [the roll-out] and I expect the plan will be released very soon,” he told reporters while touring the Jordan Valley. “Several weeks have passed. A lot of dramatic things are happening in the Middle East, and I look forward to the publication of the plan.”

Gantz also said he would push to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley “in coordination with the international community” after the upcoming elections.

Netanyahu later voiced support for a Knesset vote in the coming weeks to apply Israeli sovereignty over the area.

But according to a Channel 13 news report Wednesday, the Trump administration opposes any unilateral Israeli moves in the West Bank — such as extending sovereignty to the Jordan Valley — before the release of its peace plan.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians claim these areas for a future state, a position backed by the international community.

Since taking office, Trump has refrained from backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a formula backed by past US administrations and many other countries.

Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, was expected in Jerusalem this week for meetings with Netanyahu and Gantz, but canceled on Wednesday.

A White House official cited weather-related issues in Davos, Switzerland, where Kushner was accompanying Trump for the World Economic Forum.

Over the course of the last two elections in 2019, Trump officials repeatedly said they would wait until Israel’s democratic process resolved itself before unveiling the proposal. With a third election on the way, however, continuing that policy could mean the White House shelving the plan indefinitely so as not to release it in the middle of America’s 2020 presidential election cycle.

- Fair Use-

 

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White House to publish peace plan imminently - reports

"The Americans are fully involved in the elections here."
By Jerusalem Post Staff       January 23, 2020 20:06

The White House is expected to publish an announcement in the coming days on its peace plan, known as the "Deal of the Century," according to Israeli Channel 13. The station has speculated that the plan could come as early as tomorrow.

Speculation had already been high that the White House had planned to publish details of its peace plan prior to the March 2 Israeli election.

According to Kan News, the US plan allows for Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and settlements in Area C. It also allows for a demilitarized Palestinian state, which would include portions of open and Palestinian spaces in Area C.

Channel 12 further reported that all of the settlements will be linked territorially, except for 15 of them and that Israel will be able to apply sovereignty already, if it agrees to the plan.

The peace plan includes demanding Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, demilitarize Gaza and take away Hamas’ weapons and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Channel 12 said.

Beit El Council head Shai Alon warned that the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, would create a second war front with the Palestinians, akin to Gaza.

“According to reports we are talking about recognition of a Palestinian state,” Alon said. “If that is correct, we are talking about a second Gaza war [in the West Bank] that will take place in the heart of the nation. We will see missiles on Kfar Saba, Rannana Hadera and other areas of Gush Dan.
“The creation of a Palestinian state between the Jordan Valley and the Sea, will [push] the region to new heights of terror and violence that we have never known and do not want to know,” he concluded.

“This is a dramatic historic moment,” Yesha head and Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhayani said. He called it a "huge diplomatic achievement for the prime minister.

"The application of Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, the [northern] Dead Sea, and settlements in Judea and Samaria is the fulfillment of the Zionist dream and a fateful moment in the history of the settlement movement," he said.

The US peace team, headed by special advisor Jared Kushner and special envoy Avi Berkowitz, had been expected to visit Israel on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the plan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, head of the Blue and White Party Benny Gantz. At the last minute, however, the team cancelled the trip.

The Hebrew website Walla reported that Netanyahu and Gantz had been invited to Washington next week to discuss the plan.

News of the possible imminent publication of the plan comes as Netanyahu is under pressure from the right-wing party Yamina to take steps as early as next week to annex the Jordan Valley and the Megilot region of the Dead Sea. However, the White House, according to sources, asked him to hold off until after publication of their plan.

Right-wing politicians in the Likud and Yamina parties are pressuring Netanyahu to push forward anyway with sovereignty, first in the cabinet on Sunday and then in the Knesset on Tuesday.

However, sources close to the proceedings told The Jerusalem Post that the Cabinet will not vote on the matter on Sunday.

In addition, the IDF announced that they are gearing up for potential backlash and have increased security in the West Bank, according to Channel 12.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett responded to the plan's possible imminent release, saying that, “I will be clear: Yamina will not allow land to be given to Arabs or for a Palestinian state to be established,” adding that he will respond to the plan’s content when it is made public.

Bennett also said that US President Donald Trump, Kushner and Ambassador to Israel David Friedman are true friends of Israel.
“Israel may he facing a historic opportunity, along with significant dangers,” he stated.

Transportation Minister Betzalel Smotrich said on Thursday that, “from the little we know about the 'Deal of the Century,' it has opportunities, but also not a few risks.”

He said that, “we [the Yamina Party] are here to maximize our opportunities and neutralize risks.”

Smotrich also said that he will do all he can to prevent a division of the Land of Israel, meaning a transfer of Israeli-held lands into Palestinian hands.
Right-wing officials told Ynet off the record that what Netanyahu got from the Trump administration is the “gift of a lifetime,” because now, Israelis will discuss the issue of annexing the Jordan Valley instead of his request to be granted immunity for alleged bribery and breach of trust.

They also said that “the Americans are fully involved in the elections here,” meaning that the US is putting its influence behind Netanyahu, who is more than likely to be seen by many Israelis as the better politician to lead such a massive historical move.

The Blue and White Party said on Thursday that the expected invitation by the White House, extended to both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, does not mean they will stop their demand for the Knesset to debate the immunity request submitted by the prime minister.

A source close to Gantz says he saw the plan and does not think it will be politically damaging to him.

Netanyahu requested that the Knesset grant him immunity from criminal misconduct after he was indicted for alleged bribery and breach of trust.

Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman tweeted on Thursday that his party recommends to annex the Jordan Valley, as suggested recently by Netanyahu, and also to reject the immunity offer.

Educational Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz said on Thursday that ownership of the homeland, “the land given to our forefathers,” is not open to any negotiations.

“We will not allow the handing over of parts of the homeland,” he said, “not to a Palestinian state and not [as part of] any unilateral moves.”

J-Street Israel director Yael Patir warned that the so-called "Deal of the Century" will not only not be the deal of the century, it will not even be the bargain of the year, since “this may be the last year of [US President Donald] Trump in the White House.”

She warned that any deal that will include Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley or the West Bank will be opposed by a Democratic US president.

“Such moves might not only destabilize the region, but create an unhealthy clash between the Israeli government and a post-Trump American administration.”

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Truly anything that favors Israel will be fought over.  That said, they are wise to move forward while the times of alliances may not last forever!

Regaining the land promised to their forefathers and the construction of the Temple, are uppermost in Israel mind's and heart's!  They must indeed strike while the iron is hot!

Trumps close ties with Israel and this peace plan initiative will surely dictate the future of the middle East and Israel in particular!  As to how this plays out with regards to the timing of the Rapture will remain to be seen.  Once again, I will leave those details to the Lord!

TR

 


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