Ex-general warns against ‘worrying’ implications of Trump plan, annexation

Gen (ret.) Amos Gilad, the former head of the Defense Ministry’s political bureau, tells Channel 12 he’s “very troubled that the US is presenting a plan that has no chance of working.”

Amos Gilad, former director of the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau, speaks at the Herzliya Conference on May 9, 2018. (Gilad Kavalerchik/ Herzliya Conference)

“The Palestinians simply won’t talk to us… They won’t sit around the table with us… It is 100 percent certain that there will be no interaction with them, no discussions with them. And this is extremely worrying,” he says. “After all, this is the United States of America. And on other side, it creates an opening for full annexation, which will turn us into a single state, with two peoples, with far-reaching implications for the character of the state of Israel. And I’m also troubled by the growing pressure on Jordan… Without Jordan, our security will be gravely damaged… There are lots of dangers here, and I don’t a chance of an accord on the basis of this plan.”

Asked about the prospect of Netanyahu moving quickly to annex the Jordan Valley, Gilad says: “That would be a very damaging step.” Unilateral annexation “would harm Jordan, and the fabric of relations — not the security ties, which are wonderful, but the wider envelope of vital ties.”

Instead of annexing the Jordan Valley, he suggests, “strengthen it” by boosting the Israeli population there.