Report: Kushner Told Netanyahu to Wait on Sovereignty; PA Claims Jordan Valley ‘on Hold’

YERUSHALAYIM
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Director of Social Media Dan Scavino talks with White House senior advisor Jared Kushner after arriving with U.S. President Donald Trump at Dallas Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas, June 11. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

An American diplomatic source has told the London-based Dar Al-Hayat newspaper that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, encouraged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to wait before applying sovereignty over parts of Yehudah and Shomron, over concerns that such a move will negatively impact Israel’s relations with Gulf states, the newspaper reported Friday.

Meanwhile, head of the Mossad Yossi Cohen made a trip to Jordan in recent days to meet with King Abdullah II to discuss the plans for annexation.

According to N12 News, Cohen is said to have made the trip in order to deliver a message from Netanyahu to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas via Abdullah that annexation is not expected to include the Jordan Valley. N12 quoted a senior Palestinian source in Ramallah, who added that Cohen said that annexation will be limited to two or three settlement blocks, without specifying. Gush Etzion, and possibly Ma’aleh Adumim, will probably be annexed.

The Mossad chief visited Jordan, among other things, after reports last week that Blue and White’s Benny Gantz will only agree to annexation if the move is backed by international coordination – with emphasis on Jordan and Egypt.

Jordan has expressed strong opposition to Israel’s plan to claim sovereignty over Yehudah and Shomron and the Jordan Valley, and has threatened to suspend the agreement if Israel goes through with its annexation plan.

Gantz was to hold a closed-door meeting with his Blue and White Party on Friday afternoon on the issue of annexation, public broadcaster Kan said. The discussion was expected to last three hours, the report said, adding that all members of Blue and White were told they must participate.

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