Trump to release ‘great’ Israel peace plan ahead of Netanyahu visit, warns that Palestinians ‘may react negatively’

US President Donald Trump will finally unveil his ‘great’ plan for peace in the Middle East before Israeli leaders visit Washington next week. While the Palestinians may not like it, it will be good for them, Trump said.

Trump has long teased the existence of a plan that would resolve the long-running dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, reportedly developed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Its release, however, has been repeatedly delayed.

On the way to an event in Florida on Thursday, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that he intends to make the plan public ahead of next week’s visit to Washington by Israel’s caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival Benny Gantz.

"It's a great plan," said Trump, "It's a plan that really would work."

The US president noted that Palestinians might react negatively to it at first, but added that the proposal would be to their benefit.

Trump has made several moves openly favoring Israel since he took office in 2017, including recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and moving the US embassy there, as well as recognizing the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied since 1967.

Israel was established in 1948 on much of the territory of the former British Palestine Mandate, with Jordan and Egypt taking over territories that are now known as the West Bank and Gaza. Israel took over both areas in a 1967 war. A number of peace proposals since then have sought to establish a Palestinian state in those territories. This “two state solution” has been the official US position until the Trump administration discarded it in February 2017.

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