ISRAELI POLITICS, RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS COULD FURTHER DELAY TRUMP’S PEACE PLAN

US President Donald Trump is unlikely to roll out his Mideast peace plan until after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets up his new government, Israeli officials said, despite US National Security Council John Bolton’s comment Wednesday that it could be published in the “very near future.” But if the administration waits until a new government is formed, it is likely especially if the coalition depends on support from the Union of Right-Wing Parties and Yisrael Beytenu that it would trigger the new government’s first coalition crisis. Trump has said himself that the plan will necessitate concessions on both sides, but any Israeli territorial concession is likely to be strongly opposed by at least one of those two parties, if not by both. If Trump would drop the plan during the coalition negotiations, it could have an impact on them, with the plan possibly chasing the URP and Yisrael Beytenu out of the coalition, and even encouraging talk among certain elements of the Blue and White Party to join the government to save the plan.