Trump: Annexation won’t happen. US envoy Friedman: It will happen one day

US President Donald Trump Friday contradicted PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s assertion that sovereignty for the Jewish-populated areas of Judea and Samaria was only “suspended” for the sake of normal relations with the UAE. The PM  also said it would only take place in coordination with Washington. Trump’s version was different. He said: “Israel agreed not to annex parts of the West Bank. It is more than taking it off the table; he agreed not to do it. That was a very smart concession.”

But US Ambassador Friedman commented in an interview with Israel Hayom on Friday morning,”It is no coincidence that the term ‘suspension’ was used [in the announcement of the accord]. Sovereignty is not off the table and I am convinced that one day the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria will become part of the State of Israel…  We published the vision of peace and we are committed to it, including to the element that turns some of the territories of Judea and Samaria into Israeli ones,” the Ambassador said. “But it was impossible to implement the two things [sovereignty and agreement] at the same time. This is a peace agreement that will be of great importance to Israel and was not to be missed.”

An Emirati official said the deal reached was for “no annexation.”