Members of West Bank settlement council reject US ‘peace deal’ 

Members of the West Bank Settlement Council (Yesha) have rejected the US’ “peace plan” dubbed the “deal of the century” claiming it is very bad, while other admitted it “is the best that Israel has achieved”.

Head of the Ariel Settlement Ely Shapiro has withdrawn from Yesha following clashes which erupted as a result of the deal yesterday.

Settlers and Likud members have been calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce the annexation of the occupied West Bank, north of the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, but he postponed the meeting and flew to Ethiopia yesterday.

READ: ‘Deal of the century’ backfires on Israel’s Netanyahu

In addition to the internal pressure, the US has asked Netanyahu not to carry out any of the terms mentioned in the deal immediately.

The settler leaders reject the deal because it includes a state for Palestinians.

However, Shapiro said that the Palestinian state is not a new issue, noting that the late Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert discussed it.