JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday delayed a vote on a proposal to annex one of the West Bank's largest settlements, a move that gives him time to coordinate his policy toward the Palestinians with the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the pro-settlement Jewish Home Party, has been pushing Netanyahu to abandon the idea of a Palestinian state and to annex the Maaleh Adumim settlement near Jerusalem.
But after convening his Security Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu said his Cabinet ministers, including Bennett, had decided "unanimously" to delay action until Netanyahu goes to Washington to meet with Trump. Netanyahu's office said the Cabinet would hold further discussions ahead of the meeting, which is expected in early February.
Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his friendship and his inaugural-speech pledge to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism. Netanyahu said they would discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the situation in Syria and the Iranian threat, among other issues.
Netanyahu has welcomed Trump's election as an opportunity to strengthen ties with the United States. The two men spoke Sunday in a phone call that was "very nice," Trump said in a brief comment at the White House.
Netanyahu, a longtime supporter of the settlements, has been cautious about expanding them in the face of strong opposition from the international community. The administration of former President Barack Obama last month allowed the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution condemning settlements as illegal.
But Bennett and others believe that with Trump's election, there is no longer any reason not to expand the settlements and add West Bank territory to Israel.
"For the first time in 50 years, the prime minister can decide: either sovereignty or Palestine," Bennett wrote on Twitter.
An official in the Jewish Home Party said Netanyahu had been trying to delay the Cabinet vote at the request of the Trump administration, which did not want to be blind-sided by unilateral Israeli steps. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal coalition negotiations.
Maaleh Adumim is a sprawling settlement of nearly 40,000 people east of Jerusalem. Palestinians oppose any move to make it part of Israel. They seek all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war -- for a future state.
Maaleh Adumim is also strategically located in the middle of the West Bank.
"If they are serious about making it part of Israel and closing it down, then it is actually cutting the West Bank into two," said Hagit Ofran of the anti-settlement group Peace Now.
While Trump has not expressed an opinion on the annexation, he has said he supports one of Israel's key demands -- moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The U.S., like other countries, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv, saying the conflicting claims to Jerusalem must be worked out in negotiations.
The president did not respond to a reporter's question Sunday about plans to move the embassy. White House officials said the U.S. was only at the "very beginning" of discussing plans for a move.
In a series of messages sent to Trump, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged against an embassy move and warned that he would revoke recognition of Israel if a move took place.
Abbas met Sunday with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman. Jordan, which serves as the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, has warned that moving the embassy would cross a "red line." Jordan is a key Israeli and Western ally in the battle against Islamic militants.
"We discussed the possibility of moving the embassy, and we say that if this thing happens, then we have measures that we agreed to implement together with Jordan," Abbas said. "And we hope that the American administration will not do that."
Also Sunday, Jerusalem officials granted building permits for 566 new homes in east Jerusalem. The permits had been put on hold for the final months of the Obama administration.
"We've been through eight tough years with Obama pressuring to freeze construction," said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. "I hope that era is over and now we can build and develop Jerusalem for the welfare of its residents, Jews and Arabs alike."
A Section on 01/23/2017