In an interview with Time magazine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of the Trump peace plan, the annexation of areas of the West Bank to Israel in any peace proposal, and the extent to which investigations into corruption have affected his political career. The following are excerpts from the interview:

- What can be done to help the millions of people living in the occupied territories who have not benefited economically or personally from the economic boom that Israel has achieved?

- Well, I will separate Gaza from the West Bank, because the Palestinian economy there goes on an equal footing, and the per capita income may be double that of Gaza. Since Hamas essentially controls Gaza, it does not really allow any kind of real development, because it takes all the money that comes from international support. There is no money for this purpose in the West Bank. Because we are in fact responsible for the West Bank, we control the area militarily, and there is no money going for military purposes, which is why performance is better. I would like to see more and more private sector investments going to the Palestinian territories and to the joint Palestinian-Israeli efforts. Some of these efforts work in any way. I think what the US president's adviser, Garrid Kouchner, and the special representative of US President in the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, in Bahrain, could be very useful to the Palestinians.

- But Palestinian officials did not attend the Bahrain conference.

- If we can achieve this goal (economic development), the lives of the Palestinians will be strengthened and peace will be strengthened, but it will not be a substitute for political negotiations or political solutions, but it will certainly make it much easier. This spontaneous boycott by the Palestinians for a conference aimed at giving them a better life will affect their future. Because any conference puts the foundations for political negotiations for peace, which Trump's plan will propose.

- Will Trump's plan include the annexation of existing settlements in the West Bank?

- I think we have to leave that to the plan until it appears on the ground, and then I will decide how to respond.

- Is there something specific you are looking for in the plan?

- I think everyone understands that under any proposal for peace, and any realistic peace proposal, there are areas in the West Bank that will already become an essential part of Israel, and I declare this as a fact and not as a political ideological position. It is a fact, as half of Jerusalem is outside the Green Line, 67 borders. Does anyone think we will tear half of Jerusalem? No one thought so.

- Many say that taking more and more actions outside the negotiating table has pushed Palestinians away from the peace process.

- No, we offered them everything, and we talked to them in everything, from Camp David in 2000, under President Bill Clinton, and during the reign of then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but they kept away from it every time. Of what former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed to them, and moved away from the negotiating framework proposed by former US President Barack Obama and former US Secretary of State John Kerry. I had my reservations, but I said yes, I will sit for peace, I will be there and we will negotiate, they did not go there, and they moved away from any negotiations that would bring practical peace.

- Israeli retired generals believe that any kind of annexation of West Bank settlements will lead to the collapse of security cooperation, which imposes high economic and security costs on Israel. Do not you think that too?

- Well, I have heard the same thing about the Golan Heights, that if the United States recognizes our sovereignty over the Golan Heights, any possibility of a peace process with Syria will collapse, and so on. This is not true here, because the Palestinians themselves know that the populated areas form a very small part of the West Bank, and this small part will remain part of Israel. They know it, so let's stop pretending.

• The Palestinians know that populated areas form a very small part of the West Bank, and this small part will remain part of Israel.