(JTA) – At press time, Jared Kushner, an architect of the Trump administration’s peace plan, said the administration would not support the immediate annexing of West Bank settlements and suggested the actual implementation of the plan begin after Israeli elections in March. Kushner, in an interview on Thursday, Jan. 30 with GZERO Media, said the administration has agreed to form a technical team with Israeli representatives to study the map and define its parameters. “The Jordan Valley can mean a lot of different things,” the White House adviser said. “What we have now is almost called more of a term sheet, and then we have to work over a couple months to turn that into a document that we can both feel good about.” Kushner’s comments come after the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel will look to immediately “apply its laws” to existing settlements and the Jordan Valley.

“Palestinians may have issues with aspects of this plan. But to address them, they should identify the areas they would like to improve and agree to negotiate with Israel. Failure to do so would be to miss an opportunity which may never come again,” said Kushner.

In response, Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said on Wednesday, Jan. 29 that a plan to extend Israeli sovereignty to the settlements and the Jordan Valley won’t be brought to the Cabinet right away because the government needs more time to prepare. Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit would need “a few days” to prepare before the process of extending sovereignty can be initiated. The minister promised that while the process would not begin on Sunday, “it will happen in the near future.”