Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has made clear to US President Donald Trump that he will not evacuate “a single person” from settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“I said there can’t be the removal of even one settlement, and [that Israel insists on] our continued control of all the territory to the west of the Jordan,” Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 13 news network.
The Israeli premier said he had set out the same position to Trump and former US president Barack Obama, stressing that he was unwilling to see even a single Israeli being evacuated from the West Bank settlements.
“All the settlements, without exception, those that are in blocs and those that aren’t, need to remain under Israeli sovereignty,” Netanyahu claimed, adding that the plan would “eventually” happen.
Asked in the interview whether he expects Washington to recognize the Israeli claim on the West Bank as Trump did with the Golan Heights last month, Netanyahu said, “Wait until the next term.”
The US president will likely unveil his controversial proposal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the so-called “deal of the century”, on May 15.
