Economy Minister Naftali Bennett will meet in the coming days with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and present a proposal to apply Israel's sovereignty to Area C, beginning with the major settlement blocs, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The Bayit Yehudi head has recently met a number of cabinet ministers and senior officials of various parties to discuss the plan, trying to create a "untied front" behind it. During one meeting he said the recent breakdown in the negotiations was the time for Israel to put its own initiative on the table, and start to "move forward after 20 years of trying one track, which has met with no success."
Likud Ministers Yisrael Katz and Gilad Erdan, as well as Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, have spoken in the recent past about applying Israel law to Area C.
Bennett's meeting with Netanyahu is part of "brainstorming" efforts the prime minister announced at the end of April to explore other "policy options" in the wake of the collapse of the talks.
He told the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun this week that he does not want the "status quo," and is "engaging in consultations with my own coalition partners and with others, to see if we have other alternatives, because I think the status quo is not a good idea, because I don't want a binational state."
The Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into three areas: Area A, B and C. Area A, comprises some 18 percent of the territory, and was transferred to the Palestinian Authority, which enjoys most governmental powers.
Area B, making up 22% of the territories, was divided between Israel and the Palestinians, with Israel retaining security control, and civil matters given over to the Palestinian Authority. Area C, comprising some 60% of the territory – including all the settlement lands – remained in Israeli hands.
There are an estimated 350,000 Israelis, and 70,000 Palestinians, in Area C. Under Bennett's plan, the Palestinians would be offered full Israeli citizenship.
In addition to meeting various ministers and political officials, Bennett has also presented his plan in recent weeks to ambassadors and diplomats in the country. The plan, in addition to annexing Area C, also includes removing road blocks in the remaining Palestinian territories, Areas A and B, as well as investing in infrastructure there and pursuing massive economic development.
Annexing Area C, Bennett has said, will secure Israel's vital interests by creating a buffer Zone for Gush Dan and Jerusalem. It will also preserve Israel's "vital" national heritage sites.
According to sources close to Bennett, he will push forward with the plan regardless of whether Hamas and Fatah consummate their unity agreement, and regardless whether Israeli-Palestinian talks start anew. Bennett, according to sources close to him, believes those talks will ultimately fail.
Europe and the United Nations – which have indicated they view Area C as vital for the viability of a future Palestinian state -- have in the last few years increasingly focused on shoring up Palestinian development in Area C, including with financial assistance.
One of the first steps Israel took following the suspension of the talks with the Palestinians when a Fatah-Hamas unity pact was announce was to freeze pending Palestinian construction in Area C.
In early April, even before the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced his unity pact with Hamas, Bennett launched a public relations initiative for a plan called "settlement blocs first." This plan calls for the annexing of Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumim Bet El-Ofra, Ariel and settlements overlooking Ben-Gurion airport.
In a related development, Justice Minister Tzip Livni, who headed the negotiations with the Palestinians, was expected to meet in London late Thursday with US Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry met a day earlier in London with Abbas, in what were described as "informal talks." Kerry is in London for talks on Syria.