Ahead of meeting Trump on Gaza deal, Netanyahu discusses West Bank annexation & Qatar’s future role

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Israeli settler leaders on Sunday to hammer out the details of Israel’s position ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.

The president has raised expectations for the meeting by declaring that “all are on board” with his 21-point plan to end the Gaza War. He has also announced he would not allow Israel to annex parts of Judea and Samaria in response to the wave of recognitions of a “State of Palestine” by several Western nations.

However, Netanyahu has signaled that there are critical points that will have to be discussed.

An Israeli official told Walla News there was “significant progress” in the talks with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Witkoff. “There’s a good atmosphere heading toward an agreement.”

The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is set for 6 pm Israeli time in the White House. After the meeting and a joint lunch, they will hold a press conference, which will be “the best indication of possible agreements,” the official said.

Parts of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition have significant reservations about several points of the deal, while also pressuring him to annex parts of Judea and Samaria.

Representatives of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, traveled to New York for an “emergency meeting” on Sunday, after Trump declared he would oppose annexations.

“Netanyahu told them that this is not the right time to apply sovereignty,” a source present at the meeting told Walla News.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, told Ynet News, “Netanyahu was attentive and the meeting was in-depth, but we left feeling concerned despite the open discussion. At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister did not say when sovereignty would be applied.”

“I hope this isn't an attempt to string us along. We agreed we might meet again later. We didn’t travel to meet with Trump, we came to meet with Netanyahu. He and his government can apply sovereignty. The one who will decide whether there will be sovereignty is Netanyahu — not the U.S. Trump is a great friend of Israel, a miracle for Israel, but even between friends there can be disagreements,” said Dagan.

In addition to the annexation issue, Netanyahu is also being pressured on Israeli concessions to Hamas as part of a ceasefire deal.

According to Ynet, Israel has requested the deal include a clear statement that the IDF has the freedom to remove terror threats in the Gaza Strip in the future. However, the mediating countries argued that this would drive Hamas away from a deal.

The biggest challenge, Israeli officials estimate, will be to get Hamas to release all the hostages in one go, giving up its main assets and human shields.

The terror group so far only stated that it hadn’t yet received any new proposal for a ceasefire, but claimed to be open to restart negotiations.

Another critical point in the discussions is the role of Qatar in the reconstruction and management of the devastated enclave.

Over the past months, relations between Israel and the emirate deteriorated significantly, and Israel reportedly seeks to reduce Qatar’s influence in Gaza as much as possible, to the benefit of Egypt.

However, the Trump administration reportedly opposed Israel’s demand of not granting Qatar any role in the strip, and the point is still being discussed.

Speaking to the news outlet Axios on Sunday, Trump said that “Everybody has come together to get a deal, but we still have to get it done.”

“The Arab countries were fantastic to work with on this. Hamas is coming with them. They have great respect for the Arab world,” Trump said. “The Arab world wants peace, Israel wants peace and Bibi wants peace.”

“If we get this done, it will be a great day for Israel and for the Middle East. It will be the first chance for real peace in the Middle East. But we have to get it done first,” Trump said.