Trump Peace Deal Puts Embattled Netanyahu In Positive Light Before Elections - Ex-Lawmaker

Trump Peace Deal Puts Embattled Netanyahu in Positive Light Before Elections - Ex-Lawmaker

The US Middle East plan, set to be unveiled on Tuesday, has reshaped Israel's public agenda during the pre-election period by shifting the focus from the legal woes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his statesmanship efforts to implement the milestone peace deal, Israeli political analyst and former opposition lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2020) The US Middle East plan, set to be unveiled on Tuesday, has reshaped Israel's public agenda during the pre-election period by shifting the focus from the legal woes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his statesmanship efforts to implement the milestone peace deal, Israeli political analyst and former opposition lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova told Sputnik.

US President Donald Trump said he will announce the Middle East peace plan at noon on Tuesday, five weeks before the Israeli elections, fueling speculations that he is throwing a political lifeline to Netanyahu who runs for reelection while facing a trial on bribery, corruption and breach of trust charges. Netanyahu denies all charges.

"Many in Israel, including myself, connect these two dots: the upcoming elections and an attempt to at least change the topic of the day from debates on parliamentary immunity to the fate of the territories," Svetlova said. "If this deal includes what we think it does, and that is the annexation of [one of the largest West Bank settlements] Maale-Adumim and so on, it will be clearly perceived as a great accomplishment of Benjamin Netanyahu."

The peace plan, dubbed "the deal of the century," has been in the works since the early days of the Trump presidency and is said to address a set of pivotal issues for Israel-Palestinian peace process, including the issue of permanent borders, the status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, the future of Arab refugees and security arrangements.

Media reports have speculated that the peace plan will grant Israel unprecedented concessions tantamount to being given a green light to annex large and strategically significant portions of land that Palestinians claim for a state of their own.

Svetlova said the effect of the media reports is already visible as one sifts through the major Israeli television channels.

"The first half hour of news, which is the most important and highest-rated, was already devoted exclusively to the peace deal, Netanyahu's visit to Washington and his meeting with Trump," Svetlova said.

Netanyahu's political opponents have voiced opposition about the timing Trump has chosen to announce the peace plan and suggested it is more appropriate to postpone the event until after March 2 elections.

"The sky wouldn't fall should the plan be presented on March 3," Yisrael Beiteinu party leader and former Israel's Defense and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

Aware of such concerns, Trump hosted on Monday Netanyahu's primary rival Benny Gantz in a visibly lower-key meeting. Gantz then left Washington to attend parliamentary debates over Netanyahu's request for immunity, but Netanyahu retracted the plea that effectively made the Knesset hearing unnecessary.

Netanyahu's adviser Ariel Bulstein brushed off all speculatins about a conspiracy, saying the peace deal was compiled nine months ago and there was little room for additional delays given Trump's schedule.

"Trump has entered his election year with an increasingly limited ability to deliver before going to the polls," Bulstain told Sputnik. "So, it's more about an American election cycle. Apart from the fact that this program is correct and good, Trump probably expects it to appeal to his voters, most notably from the evangelical community."

Conspicuously absent from Washington deliberations are Palestinian leaders, who are expected to reject Trump's peace plan as they did his previous initiatives.