Gantz on annexation: 'We won't get into Palestinian deep sh*t'

If the Palestinians choose not to take part in the talks with Israel about the annexation, “then we will have to move forward without them,” he said.

By LAHAV HARKOV, ANNA AHRONHEIM, TOVAH LAZAROFF, OMRI NAHMIAS
Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, attends an election campaign event, in Kfar Ahim, Israel, September 16, 2019 (photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)
Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, attends an election campaign event, in Kfar Ahim, Israel, September 16, 2019
(photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)
With a week to go until the earliest date Israel can apply its sovereignty to portions of the West Bank, the government will not wait for Palestinian cooperation to move forward with the plan, Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz said Tuesday.
Moves toward annexation could break the long-term political stagnation between Israel and the Palestinians, which is one of the core ideas behind US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, said a source familiar with Gantz’s thinking on the matter.
If the Palestinians choose not to take part in talks with Israel about annexation, “then we will have to move forward without them,” he said.
“We won’t get into Palestinian deep sh**,” Gantz said. “The Palestinians continue to reject dialogue and to remain in their deep sh**.”
Trump’s peace plan is “the first to look at what’s happening on the ground in a realistic way,” he said, adding that “what we will do will have consequences, and what we will not do will also have consequences.”
Israel has to take the views of the international community and Washington into account, and the Palestinians can be involved as much as they choose to, Gantz reiterated.
“We need to not only manage the conflict but also shape it,” he said, adding: “We will work to reduce as much as possible the danger of turning the State of Israel into a binational state, while making sure that Israel remains in control of its security.”
Gantz’s remarks come amid a split between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with regard to the plan. Gantz, who is also the defense minister, has tried to be deeply involved in shaping the sovereignty map and other plans regarding the implementation of the Trump administration’s visions.
Netanyahu wants to move forward with the full 30% of the West Bank permitted under Trump’s peace plan. Gantz is thought to support annexing only a small area, preferably some of the major settlement blocs, with an eye toward quelling moderate Arab opposition.
Annexation “will have a long-term effect on Israel’s security,” and therefore, the “complicated” plans must be done in a responsible manner, Gantz said.
“We need the State of Israel to be safe, Jewish and democratic, as well as prosperous financially, and these plans should translate into practical concepts as what to do or what not to do,” he said.
The IDF has been preparing for various scenarios for several months under the name “Dawn in the Hills.” According to Gantz, defense officials and the IDF have worked through all the various scenarios that could happen if Israel announces it is extending its laws over parts of the West Bank.
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi is working behind the scenes to thwart Israel’s annexation plan, an anonymous UN senior official told Army Radio. A UN official denied to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov was the source for the report.
The report indicates Gantz and Ashkenazi are not in total agreement, with Ashkenazi putting forward more objections than Gantz, whose remarks show support for a sovereignty push, although it is unclear how extensive it would be.
Both Gantz and Ashkenazi have spoken of the importance of good relations with Jordan and Egypt. Jordan has warned that any annexation efforts would harm ties with Israel, including destroying the 1994 peace agreement between Israel and Jordan.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman was in Washington on Tuesday for planned meetings with other officials involved in the US peacemaking effort, including special adviser to the president Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to determine what kind of Israeli sovereignty moves the US would support. They were expected to discuss how to proceed if Gantz and Netanyahu do not agree.
Trump will have the final word on the matter, likely in the coming days, though the White House would not give an exact date for the decision.
A source familiar with the US peacemaking team’s talks denied a New York Times report that the White House is looking to push a nonbelligerence pact between Israel and the Gulf States as a sort of consolation prize for Netanyahu if annexation does not happen, so he can bring a victory back to his political base.
That is not how negotiations work, and the US cannot force the UAE to normalize ties with Israel if Jerusalem cancels annexation, the source said.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of Israel extending its sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
The UNSC debate has been opened to all interested parties. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki are expected to participate.
“Annexation was a very dangerous measure that would undermine all prospects for peace,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters in an UNRWA virtual press conference on Tuesday.
“We continue to urge everyone who believes in peace and international law to speak against annexation and to act against annexation,” he said. “The window is narrowing. Annexation cannot happen.”
Susan Rice, a former US ambassador to the UN and national security adviser in the Obama administration, who has been shortlisted to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, said annexation would make bipartisan support for Israel “much harder to sustain.”
Many factors are making the two-state solution harder and harder to achieve, she said at a webinar hosted by the Israel Policy Forum. “But for that to be lost as the objective we all seek, that we continue to strive for, means that fundamentally, either Israel will no longer be able to sustain itself as a Jewish state, or it will no longer be able to sustain itself as a democracy,” Rice said, adding that “either outcome is one we have to try to avoid at all costs.”
Meanwhile, coalition chairman Miki Zohar (Likud) said this government and Knesset will never support the creation of a Palestinian state.
“With G-d’s help, we will apply sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel, at first in coordination with the American plan, over at least part of Judea and Samaria,” he said at the Sovereignty Movement’s protest tent in front of the Knesset. “But there is no way that we will allow the government or the Knesset to recognize the principle of establishing a Palestinian state, Heaven forbid.”
“The Prime Minister said clearly that he is willing to conduct negotiations based on the [Trump] plan, but not to allow the government or the Knesset to recognize the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Zohar said.
Trump will have the final word on the matter, though the White House would not give an exact date for the decision. The president has a busy schedule in the coming days, with events in Wisconsin and Arizona, where he will go to the Mexican border, and a state visit from the Polish president.


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