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US President Donald Trump has promised Arab and Muslim leaders that he will not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, a move Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is considering in response to a number of countries formally recognising a Palestinian state this week.
Trump made the pledge on Wednesday at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Arab and Muslim leaders expressed their growing alarm at Israel’s actions across the Middle East and pressed him to rein in Netanyahu and help end the war in Gaza.
His comments helped alleviate concerns that Netanyahu would push ahead with annexation, said one of the people who attended the meeting. “Netanyahu doesn’t do anything in the Middle East without a green light from the US,” the person said.
A second person who attended confirmed the president made the commitment, which was first reported by Politico.
Leaders and officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Pakistan were present at the meeting.
As well as annexation, they discussed their fears that Israel could occupy or construct settlements in Gaza or forcibly displace Palestinians from the besieged enclave. They also raised concerns that the Netanyahu government could alter the legal and historical status of holy sites in Jerusalem, said a person briefed on the meeting.
“Trump responded positively to the meeting and the points raised by the Arab leaders,” the person said.
The UK, Canada, France and Australia were among a number of Israel’s traditional allies that formally recognised a Palestinian state this week in a rebuke to Netanyahu amid mounting international outrage over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Their leaders said the move was necessary to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution to the decades long Israeli-Palestinian conflict as Israel widens its control over Palestinian territory.
Trump administration officials have until now described Palestinian statehood as a “gift” to Hamas, echoing the Israeli government’s position.
The recognition of a Palestinian state triggered a furore in Israel, where far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet reiterated demands for the immediate annexation of the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
The Israeli prime minister has said he will announce his decision on annexation after he has held talks with Trump on Monday.
If Netanyahu moves ahead with annexation it could jeopardise the Abraham accords that led to four Arab states normalising relations with Israel in 2020.
The UAE, the first and most influential Arab state to sign the accords — a signature foreign policy success of Trump’s first term — has warned annexation would be a “red line”.
One of the attendees said the White House did not seem to fully grasp the seriousness of regional repercussions of West Bank annexation until this week.
Arab and European leaders have used this week’s UNGA meeting to press the Trump administration into doing more to end Israel’s war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Gulf officials on Wednesday that the administration understood “very clearly” that “the situation with Israel in Gaza is a key concern for everyone in this room here today.” He did not mention the West Bank, however.