Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday that “Israel wants a peace agreement but it doesn’t need one,” signaling the Trump administration’s embrace of Israel’s security-centered approach that may not include a Palestinian state as it works to craft a Middle East peace plan. The promised White House peace plan, spearheaded by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, has been repeatedly delayed and is now expected to be released in early 2019. Haley announced in October that she would step down from her post at the end of the year, meaning she will have no official role in the peace plan rollout next year. It called settlements an obstacle to peace, and demanded an immediate halt to settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Mladenov said plans to build 2,200 units had been advanced or approved in the last quarter of this year, most of them in East Jerusalem.

Source: Washington Post December 18, 2018 16:39 UTC