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Home , Elazar Stern

Israel and the Middle East News Update

Tuesday, January 21

Headlines: • Drafting Bill to Annex Jordan Valley to Embarrass Blue White • Gantz Vows to Annex Jordan Valley • Defense Chief Says Will Apply Sovereignty to West Bank • Blue White Launches Campaign Geared to the Religious Sector • Trump to Decide on 'Deal of the Century' in Coming Days • World Leaders Descend on Israel for Holocaust Memorial • As World Leaders Flock to , Palestinians Feel Let Down

Commentary: • Yedioth Ahronoth: “Trump Eager to Present Deal of the Century” − By Ehud Ya’ari • Ha’aretz: “Edelstein, The Newest Target” − Editorial

S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● Yehuda Greenfield-Gilat, Associate Editor

News Excerpts January 21, 2020 Channel 12 News Yamina Drafting Bill to Annex JV to Embarrass Blue White Next week the plenum is scheduled to be convened to approve the establishment of the Knesset House Committee to discuss Netanyahu’s immunity, but that apparently will not be the only vote in the plenum. Yamina is trying to put on the agenda a vote on a bill to annex the Jordan Valley, with the goal of embarrassing Blue and White. Minister asked Netanyahu to introduce to the cabinet and the Knesset a motion to apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley on Tuesday when the plenum is convened. The goal, of course, is to embarrass Blue and White, which believes that annexation of the Jordan Valley should be coordinated [with other partners to a process] and thereby to cast it as prevaricating on issues that Yamina is advancing in practice.

Times of Israel Gantz Vows to Annex Jordan Valley Blue and White chairman vowed on Tuesday to annex the Jordan Valley “in coordination with the international community” if he wins the upcoming election. But right-wing officials and settler leaders largely scoffed at Gantz’s pledge. Suggesting that it was nothing more than a bluff, Prime Minister urged the Blue and White leader not to wait until after the election, but rather support the measure if it is brought before the Knesset for a vote in the coming weeks. “Benny Gantz, I expect an answer by the end of the day,” Netanyahu said in a statement challenging the Blue and White leader. From the left, Labor-Gesher- MK blasted the announcement, saying it would forestall any chance of a future agreement with the Palestinians. “This makes clear that center-left voters have nothing to look for in Blue and White,” he said.

Ha’aretz Defense Chief Says Israel Will Apply Sovereignty to West Bank Defense Minister said Tuesday that Israel would apply sovereignty over the West Bank and the Jordan Valley in response to remarks made by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh that the PA would act to have the distinction between Area A, B and C in the Palestinian territories annulled. While touring the Binyamin Regional Council in the West Bank, Bennett visited construction sites of new housing units as well as in the High School in the settlement of Beit El. "This morning the Palestinian prime minister declared a campaign to seize Area C," Bennett said during the tour. "We are in the midst of a battle, and they are trying to take our territory. We'll capture and settle throughout the land of Israel, while fending off the illegal Palestinian construction and apply [Israeli] sovereignty [over the West Bank]," Bennett added.

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Ma’ariv Blue White Launches Campaign Geared to the Religious Sector Blue and White has decided to try to win over voters from the national-religious sector, and yesterday the party launched a new campaign aimed at that target audience. Blue and White yesterday posted on social media a video that addressed the chaotic state of relations among the various national-religious parties. The narrator said in the video: “Your home is no home anymore,” and then shows Otzma Yehudit Chairman Itamar Ben Gvir saying that “religious Zionist politics have hit rock bottom.” The video then turns to footage of the violence that erupted at the Jewish Home Central Committee meeting, and then attacks Education Minister Rafi Peretz with a caption that reads: “When the values are no longer values.” The narrator then says: “When your home is no longer a home, it’s time to move on to a new home. A home of stateliness, Zionism, values, integrity. It’s time to move on—Blue and White.” Blue and White created a special task force for this effort to woo national-religious voters, a team that is headed by , Chili Tropper and Elazar Stern.

Jerusalem Post Trump to Decide on 'Deal of the Century' in Coming Days US President Donald Trump is expected to decide in the coming days whether to present the White House's "Deal of the Century" before the Israeli election. However, if Trump decides to wait until after the election, it may be difficult for him to present his plan later due to his own 2020 re-election campaign. See also, “Kushner heads to Israel, with Trump reportedly mulling peace plan reveal” (Times of Israel)

Ha’aretz World Leaders Descend on Israel for Holocaust Memorial About 40 world leaders are expected to arrive in Israel over the next few days to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp. Among the world leaders scheduled to participate in the forum will be Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and a special Democratic Party delegation headed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. All the leaders of the European Union will attend, as will Britain’s Prince Charles and many other heads of state. This is the largest diplomatic delegation ever to visit Israel, except for the funerals of former prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.

Jerusalem Post As World Leaders Flock to J’lm, Palestinians Feel Let Down As dozens of world leaders converge on Israel this week for the Fifth World Holocaust Forum 2020, some Palestinians are frustrated that only a few of these leaders will be visiting the Palestinian territories for a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has called on the international community to play a larger role in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. He plans to discuss this with the leaders who meet with him.

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Yedioth Ahronoth – January 21, 2020 Trump Eager to Present Deal of the Century; Arab World’s Lack of Support is Obstacle By Ehud Yaari • The nearly eternal mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, the former ambassador, Martin Indyk, wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal two days ago in which he said that there was no chance of the negotiations’ success. Indyk, who for years, ever since the Oslo Accords, believed that the solution to the conflict was within reach and required just another small effort to have the sides sign a paper, has now reached the conclusion that he was mistaken throughout all those years, and he is now advising the US administration to stay out of the Middle East and the peace process. • Indyk is not the person whom President Trump consults on affairs of the region, and there are signs that he intends to act contrary to Indyk’s advice: he will rush to publicly present at least parts of the deal of the century even before the elections in Israel on March 2. Trump will attend the Davos conference, and he plans to discuss the matter with the other leaders who attend this economic forum. Immediately afterwards, he will send his tireless son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Israel. Kushner will likely meet not only with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but also with Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz. • The chances of presenting the deal of the century fairly soon exist, but are not certain. The main obstacle is the lack of willingness, for now, among the Persian Gulf states, Egypt, and Jordan, to respond positively, even with reservations, to the plan that Saeb Erekat calls “Netanyahu and Ambassador David Friedman’s plan.” High-ranking Palestinian sources said that Abu Mazen believes that no final decision has been made in the White House, but the PA is bracing to launch a campaign to cause the plan to fail. • First and foremost, Ramallah has stressed that it will not cooperate with any move whose entire purpose is to help Netanyahu in the elections—and, incidentally, they are not at all certain that presenting the deal of the century will change anything in the Israeli political map. Abu Mazen intends to demand that the EU, Russia and China repudiate the fundamental premises of Trump’s plan in such a way that the Arab states cannot respond positively. Sources in Washington say that Trump will likely give advance warning to the Republican leaders in Congress before presenting the plan.

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Ha’aretz – January 21, 2020 Edelstein, the Newest Target Editorial • Knesset Speaker wakes up to find a horse's head in his bed.Amos Biderman • is the most democratic party in Israel, but only as long as it has a majority. When the numbers are against them, Likud politicians will do anything they can to prevent a decision by the majority, using pressure and incitement against those who stand in their way. They will even – heaven forfend – petition the High Court of Justice. • On the eve of the third election, without a trace of shame, statesmanship or national responsibility, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked for immunity from prosecution in the three corruption cases pending against him. Anyone who thought that Netanyahu had thus set the lowest possible bar for political behavior turned out to be mistaken. • Because while Netanyahu requested immunity, he did not intend to allow a debate and a vote on his request to take place until he had assured himself a majority. Indeed, since making the request, Netanyahu and his associates have spared no effort to prevent a debate on the immunity request, starting with a delegitimization campaign against Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon, which peaked with a petition to the High Court asking to invalidate his legal opinion on the matter on grounds of conflict of interest, and ending with the unprecedented and uninhibited pouncing on one of their own, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. • On Sunday Edelstein did what was required and ordered the Knesset to assemble so that it could approve the convening of the Knesset House Committee to debate Netanyahu’s request. Edelstein was acting against his will but without any choice, since the Knesset legal adviser was of the opinion that the outgoing Knesset was permitted to debate the immunity request before the election. “Although I disagree with the position of the Knesset legal adviser, I believe that in order to maintain trust in the institution of the Knesset speaker, it is important to accept it,” Edelstein said. • But in complying with the law, he was acting against the wishes of the boss, who wasn’t interested in having his request debated until after the election. Edelstein was merely acceding to the request of 25 lawmakers who asked that the Knesset be convened in a special recess session. But as far as Netanyahu and his Likud minions were concerned, the fact that Edelstein didn’t lie down and physically block the debate – even if it meant a confrontation with the judicial system – was a betrayal of his master. • Israelis don’t need to be reminded of how Likud deals with those it considers traitors. With one decision, Edelstein became Public Enemy No. 1, moving to the top of the Likud target bank. In a single moment the leader of the legislative branch, No. 2 in the Likud party, became a leftist collaborator and an enemy of the people. • Edelstein did the right thing by facilitating the formation of the committee that will debate Netanyahu’s immunity. The criminal culture that has spread through Likud, in the spirit of its criminal-defendant commander, must be uprooted.

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