Tel Aviv, November 02: The Israeli regime is considering renting Palestinian land based on a US proposal that has reportedly vowed support for continued Israeli military presence on the territory.
The offer holds that Tel Aviv should lease the Jordan Valley, which houses some 47,000 Palestinians and its greater part falls within the occupied West Bank, AFP reported on Monday.
The proposal had reportedly suggested a seven-year lease. Meanwhile, an unnamed cabinet minister said, “Anything less than a 99-year lease is not worth talking about.”
However, Mohammed Shatayeh, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team, said, “No ideas have been presented to us about renting out Palestinian lands, and if this is offered to us we will not accept it.”
“We consider this a trial balloon in the media and completely reject it,” he added.
Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported in late September that the United States had guaranteed in a package of incentives that Tel Aviv would keep its forces in the valley even after the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Washington had also offered to provide the Israeli military with some of its latest high-tech weaponry and to shield Tel Aviv from any potential United Nations Security Council resolutions.
——–Agencies