JERUSALEM (AP) — Only days before a peace summit in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet is reportedly balking at a U.S.-authored plan for an Israeli pullback in the West Bank.
The ministers are poised to oppose an American initiative for Israeli troops to withdraw from 13 percent of the West Bank, an Israeli newspaper reported Sunday.
Netanyahu’s Cabinet, which is dominated by hard-liners who oppose land-for-peace deals with the Palestinians, is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss the deal, a day before the prime minister leaves for Washington.
In addition, the Cabinet will inform Netanyahu that they will only authorize implementing any deal after the Palestinians fulfill a series of demands, including disarming militants and annulling sections of the PLO charter, the report said.
The prime minister has come under heavy pressure from far-right members of his coalition government who have threatened to topple him if he goes ahead with another pullback.