In a phone call on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the prospects of peace in the region and future bilateral cooperation.
The UK Government released a statement, stating that Prime Minister Johnson: “Reiterated his personal support for Israel and urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to return to negotiations with the Palestinians. The leaders also underlined their ongoing commitment to UK-Israel trade and discussed the global response to coronavirus, agreeing to continue working together to tackle the pandemic”.
The statement said that the Prime Minister “set out his concerns about plans to annex parts of the West Bank unilaterally and cautioned that this would set back the prospects for peace in the region”.
Prime Minister Netanyahu told Prime Minister Johnson that “Israel is prepared to conduct negotiations on the basis of President Trump’s peace plan which is both creative and realistic and will not return to the failed formulas of the past”.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said the two leaders “agreed to strengthen bilateral relations in a range of fields, especially to deepen cooperation combating the coronavirus”.
Last week, Prime Minister Johnson wrote to Israelis in a Hebrew-language article published in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, where he spoke of his passionate support for Israel while warning against annexation of the West Bank and underlining his support for renewed peace negotiations.
