A state official said Israel is considering territorial exchanges with the Palestinians, including the predominately Arab Wadi Ara region as part of a peace plan for the Middle East proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
"The possibility of exchanging land with Wadi Ara came up in talks, in case the Palestinians comply to the agreement," said the official. "There are still many questions that need to be clarified. The prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] is yet to form a position on the matter, but hasn't ruled it out either."
The official noted that there will be no exchange of population from or into the region, which houses some quarter-million people.
Wadi Ara is a valley and its surrounding area in Israel populated mainly by Arab Israelis.
The area has come under political attention as some Israeli politicians, such as Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman, have brought up transferring the area to the sovereignty and administration of the Palestinian Authority for a future Palestinian state. In return, the Palestinian Authority would transfer specific large Israeli settlement "blocs" within the West Bank to Israel.