Witkoff, who is also tasked by Trump with bringing peace to the Middle East, is understood to support the idea, which the Americans believe circumvents barriers in the Ukrainian constitution to ceding territory without holding an \u201call-Ukraine\u201d referendum. <\/p>\n
President Zelensky has refused to countenance handing over land but the occupation model may be a mechanism to allow for a truce after three and a half years of war.<\/p>\n
Under the model, Ukraine\u2019s borders would not change, just as the borders of the West Bank have gone unchanged for 58 years, only under Israeli control.<\/p>\n
The White House described the proposal as \u201cfake news\u201d, adding: \u201cNothing of the sort was discussed with anyone at any point.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll just be like Israel occupies the West Bank,\u201d the source said before Trump\u2019s summit with President Putin in Alaska on Friday<\/a>. \u201cWith a governor, with an economic situation that goes into Russia, not Ukraine. But it\u2019ll still be Ukraine, because \u2026 Ukraine will never give up its sovereignty. But the reality is it\u2019ll be occupied territory and the model is Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch: President Zelensky of Ukraine says he told Trump that Putin is \u201cbluffing\u201d<\/p>\n Zelensky in the Kharkiv region this month<\/p>\n UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE\/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s occupation has been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice, which is not recognised by the US and only partially accepted by Russia. In March 2022 the court ordered Russia to \u201cimmediately suspend military operations\u201d in Ukraine, by a vote of 13 to two in which Russian and Chinese judges were opposed. The order is binding on Russia<\/a> but the court has no means of enforcing it.<\/p>\n The United Nations has ordered Israel to end its occupation, most recently in a vote of the general assembly last September by 124 nations to 14, with 43 abstentions. <\/p>\n The resolution called for Israel to comply with international law within 12 months and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank. Israel, which voted against the measure along with the US, has ignored the resolution. Britain abstained.<\/p>\n This outcome for Ukraine\u2019s occupied territories is seen by some US negotiators as simply reflecting the reality of the war and the refusal by all other nations to become directly involved in fighting Russia. In this view, all that remains is to establish the exact boundaries of Russian occupation, which Putin is seeking to push as far as possible before his talks with Trump in Alaska.<\/p>\n The scenario would reflect the world view expressed by Sebastian Gorka<\/a>, Trump\u2019s senior director for counterterrorism, during an interview in May.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in the real world. The Trump administration lives in the real world,\u201d Gorka told Politico. \u201cWe recognise the reality on the ground. Number one, that\u2019s the beginning because we\u2019re not utopianists and we\u2019re not human engineers. We\u2019re not some kind of pie in the sky believers in utopia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognise the reality on the ground and we have one priority above all else, whether it\u2019s the Middle East or whether it\u2019s Ukraine. It\u2019s to stop the bloodshed. Everything else comes after the bloodshed has been halted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u200bIsraeli troops captured the West Bank \u2014 land between Israel and the River Jordan \u2014 from Jordanian forces during the 1967 Six Day War, putting millions of its Palestinian residents under Israeli control. <\/p>\n Israeli soldiers raid the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus in the West Bank this month. Below: troops in the Old City of Hebron<\/p>\n JAAFAR ASHTIYEH\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n AMAER SHALLODI\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n Today it maintains overall control of the territory,\u200b although since the 1990s a Palestinian government known as the Palestinian Authority has run most of its towns and cities. <\/p>\n Palestinians are subject to Israeli military checkpoints and patrols, and are required to obtain permits from Israel to travel between the West Bank and other Palestinian territories in Gaza and East Jerusalem. <\/p>\n![\"Volodymyr](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/46211e5f-12e1-46da-8911-14b0aed469ab.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/358ee6e5-e91a-4b12-a626-c1276733f4f9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/ca5dc48b-2238-47e5-ad6c-03a219d0bfd4.jpg\")
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