“Netanyahu told Likud MKs he has “a goal date in July, and we won’t change it.’ The prime minister also said he is constantly working on the map with Trump administration representatives, including on Monday.” Also See: “Netanyahu Tells Lawmakers He Stands by July Target Date to Launch West Bank Annexation” (Haaretz); and, “Israel’s Netanyahu says he won’t miss West Bank annexation opportunity” (Reuters)

“Citing his conversations with Trump allies, Revivi explained that, the way he sees it, the administration’s plan was less about some grand desire to promote peace in the region and more about expanding business ties with the Gulf states, who are interested in seeing progress on the Palestinian issue before further developing their relationship with Israel’s biggest ally. The Gulf states, according to Revivi, had been willing to move forward with the US, even if the Palestinians were to reject the plan, but when they got hold of how quickly the Israelis and Americans were planning to move on annexation, they voiced their objection to the Trump administration, leading Kushner to slam the brakes on talk of sovereignty ‘within days.’ Elhayani’s press statement had been the ‘trigger’ that set off the Gulf states, who felt such an immediate implementation of the peace plan was selling the Palestinians short, Revivi said, again relying on his conversations with Trump allies. The Efrat mayor recognized that his account places quite a deal of weight behind the statement of one mayor in the Jordan Valley, and assumes that officials in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha care what David Elhayani says or even know who he is. “’But the fact remains that the statement caused considerable tension in the highest levels of the Trump administration and we were told as much,’ Revivi said, standing by his account.”

“Whether Israeli or American interests will dominate, it’s clear that Palestinian interests aren’t part of the equation governing the fate of their land. I’m not referring to the interests of the Palestinian government or the Palestinian national movement. I mean Palestinians who live in the West Bank and in refugee camps, who will be the ones most affected by an annexation…So, be aware that an Israeli-style annexation is above all a move leading to dispossession and expulsion. It’s an aggressive real estate maneuver. The land to be annexed includes areas owned by Palestinians, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that all these areas, to the last plot, will be expropriated – some immediately, some in a process lasting years.”

“I wish to analyze and assess Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley, which is based on U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan. According to the map presented by Netanyahu, he intends to annex 1,200 square kilometers (463 square miles), which is 20.5 percent of the West Bank’s area. What are the ramifications of this move for people’s daily lives?”

“Al-Monitor has learned that Jordan is considering, among other options, suspending parts of the 1994 peace treaty claiming that the Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley violates the delineation of borders between Israel and Jordan, in addition to being illegal under international law and pertinent United Nations resolutions. Immediate reaction may include expelling the Israeli ambassador in Amman and recalling the Jordanian ambassador in Tel Aviv.”

Peace Now: “The decision to allocate a-Nahla land for a new settlement is illegal, immoral and un-Jewish. Implementing this plan will severely damage not only the Palestinian landowners and the development capacity of the Bethlehem area, but also the ability to reach a future peace agreement and territorial compromise for a future Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. The land should be allocated for Palestinian development in the region.”

“Israeli authorities denied Abu Zeyad a permit in September 2019 to enter occupied East Jerusalem, where he had hoped to accompany his mother, who needed cancer treatment, to a hospital just three kilometers from his home but on the other side of the separation barrier. She died there in December without her son by her side. In October 2019, Israeli authorities at the Allenby Crossing barred Abu Zeyad from traveling to Jordan to attend a relative’s funeral, citing undisclosed ‘security reasons,’ despite his never having been convicted for a security offense. Authorities provided no further information and designated the evidence as ‘secret,’ meaning even his attorney will not be able to see it in court. And of course, without a permit to enter Jerusalem, Abu Zeyad cannot attend his own court hearing.”

“On Monday morning, the Israeli army reported an attempted stabbing attack near a West Bank settlement. But both its own subsequent investigation released later that day and conversations with three Palestinian eyewitnesses raise many questions about what happened in this incident, which began with a Palestinian family harvesting its wheat and ended with two people wounded by gunfire.”

“According to the station, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun — formally known as the coordinator of government activities in the territories — told army chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi and Defense Minister Benny Gantz that annexation “was likely to lead to a wave of terror attacks and a breaking of security cooperation [with the Palestinian Authority].”

“Local Israeli council heads in the West Bank have embraced the project, viewing it as the latest step toward creating a contiguous built up area between the West Bank and Israel. Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria regional council, said after a planning commission meeting that the ‘Gates of Samaria industrial zone can be expected to change the equation on the way toward seeing a million Jews in Judea and Samaria.’ Mor Gilboa, an activist with Israeli and Palestinian environmentalists and in ‘Climate for Peace,’ said ‘the military government in the territories has for decades created a list of climate blights on the environment. The plan ignores nature the same as it ignores Palestinian rights to these territories which don’t belong to Israel under international law.’ Ecopeace, an environmental organization of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian activists voiced concerns that the park would hurt water springs and underground wells and do hydrological damage to the entire area.”

“The trial is expected to last a year or more, with the first witnesses not expected to testify for months. If convicted, Mr. Netanyahu, who has long maintained his innocence and insisted that the case would come to nothing, could face years in prison.”

“Netanyahu and his allies have spent months lashing out at the law enforcement system, and a new round of attacks could test the new government. Dozens of Netanyahu supporters outside the court in east Jerusalem wore masks and T-shirts depicting Netanyahu as a martyr and held posters lambasting the attorney general who indicted him…Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who recently filed a police complaint following anonymous threats against him, vowed that the case will be handled like any other — ‘in a professional, business-like manner and within the courtroom halls.’”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows Sunday that he will not agree to a plea bargain in the corruption case against him. Netanyahu faces bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges in three different cases. His trial opened on Sunday, garnering massive attention from the local and international media…Addressing the indictments against him, he said, ‘The last election was an expression of gross no-confidence in those who set me up. They are unable to beat me in an election so they do something else. They thought these indictments would be a death blow, but the public is smarter and gave us more votes than ever.'”

“Israel’s new public security minister, Amir Ohana, asked the acting police commissioner to “use every means” to uncover senior police sources who commented to the media about a possible new criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

“Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of attempting to start a civil war and carry out a coup, while railing against the prime minister’s bashing of the judicial system as his corruption trial opened Sunday. ‘Israel changed yesterday. It won’t be the same. A serving prime minister was put on trial. His trial didn’t start with a presentation of the evidence, it started with wild incitement against the rule of law, against the courts… He knows it will end in violence but he doesn’t care,’ Lapid told his Yesh Atid-Telem faction at the Knesset. Flanked by ministers and lawmakers from his Likud party, Netanyahu delivered lengthy televised remarks before the start of the hearing at the Jerusalem District Court Sunday, ripping into police and prosecutors as he became the first Israeli premier to stand trial on criminal charges while in office. He also declared that all his right-wing supporters were on trial along with him…Lapid lambasted Netanyahu for the speech, describing it as leading the country to civil war. ‘There was a coup attempt yesterday and it was led by Netanyahu. He tried to attack the police, the prosecution, the courts, the media. He tried to threaten his judges,’ the new opposition leader charged.”

“For the first time in Israel’s history, an incumbent prime minister is on trial. The battle for public opinion and other background noise are supposed to remain outside the courtroom of Jerusalem District Court Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman. Now all eyes are on the hundreds of witnesses, the prosecutors and the defense attorneys, and primarily on the judges, who will have to weigh contradicting narratives in order to determine whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a criminal or innocent of wrongdoing. Here are the people whose testimonies and the way they function will eventually bring about a decision on the three cases that have been seizing the country’s attention for years.”

“Honed over more than two years of attacks on the pillars of Israel’s democracy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incendiary assault on his accusers shortly before the start of his corruption trial Sunday was a brilliantly calculated assertion of innocence and victimhood. Its core thesis, that a strong, pro-annexation, right-wing prime minister is facing an illicit attempt — perpetrated by a vast, leftist alliance of politicians, media, cops and state prosecutors — to oust him because of his ideology and policies, is also demonstrably ridiculous.”

“New bipartisan legislation aims to increase collaboration between Israel and the US in developing defense technology. US Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced the United States-Israel Military Capability Act of 2020 last week. Peters and Cotton are both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Their legislation would enhance collaboration on the research and development of technology used for national defense.”