In the absence of the Palestinians ... Netanyahu and Gantz go to Washington to discuss Trump's peace plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponent for the upcoming elections, Benny Gantz, will travel to the United States on Sunday to discuss the upcoming US plan - to resolve the conflict in the Middle East - which the Palestinian Authority has rejected again.

Both Netanyahu and Gantz were invited to the White House on Monday and Tuesday.

"We are in the midst of very exciting diplomatic developments, and awaiting their climax," Netanyahu told reporters before the government's weekly meeting, describing the plan again as "historic."

Trump said Thursday that he would announce his plan - which is known in the media for the long-awaited deal for the century - before Netanyahu met in Washington. "It is an excellent plan, and it will succeed," he added. Gantz will meet President Trump on Monday in a separate meeting to discuss the plan.

"President Trump's peace plan will be dug deep in history as it is meaningful," Gantz told a news conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

The leader of the central alliance, "Blue and White", expects that the American plan will allow "various players in the Middle East to advance towards reaching a regional and historic agreement."

Monday's meetings will be limited to the American and Israeli sides, as the Palestinian leadership has not been invited.

Netanyahu also thanked Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed for his "important statements in which he called for combating racism, hatred and extremism."

Netanyahu said that the Emirati minister's remarks are "a breakthrough in relation to the Arab world's treatment of the Holocaust, and also constitute evidence of the change that has occurred in the Arab world's handling of Israel."

A Palestinian refused
On Thursday, the Palestinian Authority renewed its rejection of Trump's plan and considered it "unilateral", amid continuing tension between the two sides.

Trump had announced his recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Tel Aviv included East Jerusalem in a move that was not recognized internationally, and began building settlements in the Palestinian territories inhabited by more than 630 thousand settlers, and the United Nations and the majority of the international community consider that those settlements are illegal.

"We reaffirm once again our categorical rejection of the US decisions that have been announced about Jerusalem and regarded as the capital of Israel, along with a set of American decisions that violate international law," Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority president, said in a statement.

"We reaffirm our steadfast position calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," he added.

And the Palestinian official warned that "if this deal is announced with these rejected forms, the leadership will announce a series of measures in which we safeguard our legitimate rights, and we will demand Israel to assume its full responsibilities as an occupying power."