Trump Assures Muslim Leaders Israel Will Not Annex West Bank

President Donald Trump promised Arab and Muslim leaders during a meeting Tuesday that he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank, according to six people familiar with the discussion.

Two of those people said that Trump was firm on the topic and that the president promised that Israel would not be allowed to absorb the West Bank, which is governed by the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas.

Another one of the people familiar with the talks noted that, despite Trump’s assurance, a ceasefire to end Israel’s nearly two-year war against Hamas was nowhere close to fruition. Two others familiar with the matter said Trump and his team presented a white paper outlining the administration’s plan to end the war, including the annexation promise and other details such as governance and postwar security.

Special envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff provided some details on the proposal on Wednesday. “We presented what we call the Trump 21-point-plan for peace in the Mideast in Gaza,” he said at the Concordia summit in New York. “I think it addresses Israeli concerns and as well, the concerns of all the neighbors in the in the region.” Witkoff did not mention any comments about the West Bank.

Trump told reporters ahead of his sit-down with eight Arab and Muslim countries at the United Nations headquarters that it was his “most important” of the day, but he left without speaking to reporters and the participants have yet to issue any official readout about the substance of their conversation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the meeting as “fruitful” Tuesday evening during an interview on Fox News Channel, but he did not elaborate. Erdogan and Trump are scheduled to meet again at the White House on Thursday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Arab leaders have been frustrated by Trump’s opposition to the recognition of a Palestinian state and his continued support of Netanyahu’s assault on Hamas, which expanded beyond Gaza earlier this month when Israel tried to take out Hamas officials when they were in Qatar for peace talks. Going into Tuesday’s meeting, they aimed to impress on the U.S. president that any Israeli incursion into the West Bank would likely lead to the collapse of the Abraham Accords, two of the people familiar with the conversation said.

The signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s first term, the accords marked the normalization of relations between Israel and several Arab nations.

The decision by a number of top U.S. allies to recognize a Palestinian state has prompted calls inside of Israel on Netanyahu to annex all or parts of the West Bank. Some of the far right members of his government see the current moment as an opportunity to realize the Israeli right’s long sought goal of absorbing the territory. With Israeli elections taking place next year, Netanyahu may see an opportunity in doing something on this to appeal to hard line supporters.

Under Netanyahu Israel has already done much to extend and solidify its de facto control of the West Bank, including expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territory and tightening its security presence there.

Arab and European officials have warned that formal annexation of the West Bank would all but destroy any last hopes for a two state solution. Arab states have said it is a red line that would halt any hopes for Israel’s further integration into the Middle East.

Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, with Arab officials and others wondering whether Trump will finally decide to do more to pressure the Israeli leader to end the war in which more than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed.

The 2020 Abraham Accords came after Israel had threatened to annex the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates offered to normalize ties in exchange for an Israeli promise not to do so, helping to kick off the U.S.-brokered effort that the Trump team hopes to expand.