The Israeli government will continue coordinating its actions with the US and hold further discussions on the proper steps forward as it moves toward implementing its plan to extend sovereignty to Judea and Samaria communities, the Prime Minister's Office said on Wednesday.
July 1 has been declared the target to begin the process, and on Wednesday, despite no official decision on the matter, the prime minister's team took pains to stress that it was working hard to meet that objective.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to hold talks with the Americans, and will simultaneously hold a meeting with the head of the National Security Council and the top security officials as part of a whole host of discussions on the matter," the Prime Minister's Office said.
The Trump administration's newly unveiled "Vision for Peace" stipulates that Washington will endorse an Israeli decision to apply sovereignty to about 30% of Judea and Samaria as long as Israel commits to holding good-faith negotiations with the Palestinians and avoids construction in certain areas that could become part of a Palestinian state. That state will only be established four years after negotiations begin and only if the Palestinians fully renounce terrorism and carry out major reforms, and only if they are no longer considered a threat to Israel.
France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that any Israeli move to extend sovereignty to areas in Judea and Samaria would be in violation of international law and would have consequences.
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"Annexation of Palestinian territories, whatever the perimeters, would seriously throw into question the parameters to resolve the conflict," Jean-Yves Le Drian told a parliamentary hearing.
Despite Israel saying it plans to extend sovereignty rather than annex the areas in question, the detractors of the plan have attacked Israel using the term 'annexation.'
"An annexation decision could not be left without consequences and we are examining different options at a national level and also in coordination with our main European partners," Le Drian said at the hearing on Wednesday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said the extension of sovereignty was unlikely to happen on Wednesday, the start date set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for discussing such a move.
"It seems unlikely to me that this will happen today," Gabi Ashkenazi, a member of the centrist Blue and White party that is a coalition partner of Netanyahu's conservative Likud, told Israel's Army Radio.
"I reckon there will be nothing today, regarding [the extension of Israeli] sovereignty."
Netanyahu and his senior coalition partner, Defense Minister Benny Gantz are at odds over the timing of the move.
Dr. Mike Evans, a prominent evangelical who founded the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem told Israel Hayom on Wednesday that if Trump does not give Israel a green light to apply sovereignty before the election, it will hurt his base and his chances of securing the vote of many evangelical Christians.
"If the president does not endorse the prime minister's decision and rejects the idea that the land of the Bible belongs to Israel, it will take away evangelical votes," he said. "It would be unwise to put Netanyahu with his back against the wall during an election [in the US]," Evans continued.
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