Cabinet ministers in Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party called on Wednesday for Israel
to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the Knesset
recesses at the end of the month.
They issued a petition ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting next
week with U.S. President Donald Trump, where discussions are
expected to centre on a potential 60-day Gaza ceasefire and
hostage release deal with Hamas.
The petition was signed by 15 cabinet ministers and Amir
Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
There was no immediate response from the prime minister’s
office. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, long a confidant
of Netanyahu, did not sign the petition. He has been in
Washington since Monday for talks on Iran and Gaza.
“We ministers and members of Knesset call for applying
Israeli sovereignty and law immediately on Judea and Samaria,”
they wrote, using the biblical names for the West Bank captured
by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Their petition cited Israel’s recent achievements against
both Iran and Iran’s allies and the opportunity afforded by the
strategic partnership with the U.S. and support of Trump.
It said the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel
demonstrated that the concept of Jewish settlement blocs
alongside the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an
existential threat to Israel.
\u201cThe task must be completed, the existential threat removed
from within, and another massacre in the heart of the country
must be prevented,\u201d the petition stated.
Most countries regard Jewish settlements in the West Bank,
many of which cut off Palestinian communities from one another,
as a violation of international law.
With each advance of Israeli settlements and roads, the West
Bank becomes more fractured, further undermining prospects for a
contiguous land on which Palestinians could build a sovereign
state long envisaged in Middle East peacemaking.
Israel’s pro-settler politicians have been emboldened by the
return to the White House of Trump, who has proposed
Palestinians leave Gaza, a suggestion widely condemned across<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cabinet ministers in Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party called on Wednesday for Israelto annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the Knessetrecesses at the end of the month.They issued a petition ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting nextweek with U.S. President Donald Trump, where discussions areexpected to centre on a potential 60-day Gaza ceasefire andhostage release deal with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n