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For UAE Peace Deal, Israel Suspends Moves toward Sovereignty in Parts of Judea and Samaria

(Jerusalem Post) Lahav Harkov - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he "did not and will not remove sovereignty from the agenda" as part of the deal between Israel and the UAE. U.S. President Donald Trump said "Israel has agreed not to do it....I think it was a smart concession," but then said that he "can't talk about some time in the future." U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said "suspended" means "not off the table permanently." Yet American sources made clear that extending sovereignty will not happen this year. Netanyahu decided that for Israel, promoting peace with Arab countries is a more urgent priority and a greater boost to Israel's national security than setting Israel's eastern border. He said Thursday that "without support from the U.S., in the best case [sovereignty] would be worthless, and in the worst case, it would hurt ties very much." Setting Israel's eastern border would have been a boon to Israel's national security, said Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs President Dore Gold, who advised the U.S. as it prepared its peace plan. With control of the Jordan Valley, Israel could resist an attack from the east along its longest border, despite the IDF's "quantitative inferiority to its neighbors."
2020-08-17 00:00:00
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