Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plan to apply sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria has been frozen for the time being, a senior Israeli official said Tuesday morning.
Yariv Levin (Likud), the Knesset Speaker and chief of the Israeli delegation negotiating with the White House on the implementation of the sovereignty plan, said in closed talks that talks with the US on the plan were not progressing at this time, adding that American officials were open to discussion on the subject at this time, Galei Tzahal's Moriah Asraf Wolberg reported Tuesday on 'Good Morning Israel' with Efi Triger.
Levin, a key Netanyahu ally, also said that Prime Minister Netanyahu would not move forward with the sovereignty plan without support from the US.
Sources close to the Knesset Speaker responded to Tuesday's report, saying that Israel never considered pursuing the sovereignty plan without US support, and that Israel is currently waiting for the US to weigh in on the plan.
On Sunday, Kan reported that the White House is pressing Israel to hold off on moving forward with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plan to apply Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria until Netanyahu wins the backing of senior coalition partner Benny Gantz, Kan reported Sunday evening.
According to the report, the US is urging the Likud to reach an agreement with Blue and White on the sovereignty plan, so as to maintain the Israeli government’s stability.
In addition, the report claims that the White House is trying to extract Israeli concessions to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria, in the hopes of using the concessions to bring the Palestinian Authority to the negotiating table.
Prime Minister Netanyahu was widely expected to bring his sovereignty plan to the government on July 1st, the first day he was allowed to do so under the coalition deal with Gantz.
Yet nearly two weeks since then, Netanyahu has neither formally unveiled the plan nor made any announcement on it.