Trump to host Netanyahu at White House next week

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump will discuss regional and security issues with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here next week, the White House said on Thursday.

Netanyahu will visit Washington on Jan 28, the White House said in a statement, adding that the visit "is an opportunity to discuss our shared regional and national security interests."

Benjamin Gantz, Blue and White Chairman and elections rival of Netanyahu, also accepted Trump's invitation to come to Washington, according to the statement.

Trump is expected to discuss his Middle East peace plan with his Israeli guests. Media reports speculated that Trump could release the plan before the elections in Israel on March 2.

Trump has postponed several times the publication of his "Deal of the Century" for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The economic part of Trump's peace plan was unveiled during a US-led conference in Bahrain last June, a convention boycotted by the Palestinians.

Political ties between Palestine and the United States have been severed right after Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017 and moved the US embassy to the city in 2018.