JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a plan to form a unity government with Israel’s opposition last year as part of a regional peace bid, but later backtracked, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The plan centered on a document delivered to opposition leader Isaac Herzog in September, but Netanyahu later pulled back and talks collapsed in October, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Spokesmen for Netanyahu and Herzog, who heads the Zionist Union coalition dominated by his Labour party, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The effort came as moves were underway to restart peace talks with the Palestinians through a process that would include Arab countries in the region.
Netanyahu currently heads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, with key members of his coalition openly opposing a Palestinian state.
Forming a unity government with the center-left could have reassured Arab nations of his sincerity.
The document reportedly delivered to Herzog in September was a proposal for a joint declaration reiterating their commitment to a two-state solution and their desire to seek a resolution with the Palestinians.
It came some seven months after a previously reported secret meeting between Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdallah II and then US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The meeting in the Jordanian city of Aqaba saw Kerry pitch a regional peace effort.
Arab countries have previously offered normalized relations with Israel in exchange for resolving the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Under Netanyahu’s plan, the draft document negotiated with Herzog was to be submitted at a summit in Egypt in October to launch a regional peace initiative.
The two men were then to announce negotiations for the formation of a unity government after returning from the summit, which ultimately did not occur, Haaretz said.
According to the paper, Netanyahu later told Herzog he wanted to resolve controversy surrounding the evacuation of a Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank first, and talks later collapsed.
Donald Trump has since taken office as US president and has sent mixed signals regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Last month as Netanyahu visited the White House, Trump backed away from Washington’s years-long commitment to a two-state solution, saying he would support a single state if it led to peace.
Israeli right-wing politicians have welcomed Trump’s election, with some calling for an end to the idea of a Palestinian state.
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Netanyahu offered unity govt as part of peace bid
Netanyahu offered unity govt as part of peace bid
Israel to take more West Bank powers and relax settler land buys, media say
JERUSALEM: Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.
The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank.
They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offenses and damage to archaeological sites.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.
The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.
In his statement, Abbas urged Trump and the UN Security Council to intervene.
Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel’s accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.
Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.
His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.
The United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.
The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank.
They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offenses and damage to archaeological sites.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.
The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.
In his statement, Abbas urged Trump and the UN Security Council to intervene.
Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel’s accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.
Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.
His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.
The United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.
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