Israel’s far-right minister unveils West Bank annexation plan
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has unveiled a plan for Israel to annex nearly all of the occupied West Bank, urging Prime Minister Netanyahu to endorse it.
Smotrich, who also oversees a Defence Ministry body that approves settlement construction, presented the plan at a news conference in West Jerusalem. A map he displayed showed Israel taking almost the entire West Bank, leaving out only six major Palestinian cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.
Smotrich said he wanted “maximum territory and minimum [Palestinian] population” to be brought under Israeli sovereignty, urging Netanyahu to go along with it.
“The goal of the sovereignty is to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda,” said Smotrich, who himself lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied territory.
GCC condemns Israel’s ‘dangerous’ West Bank annexation push
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Israel’s far-right finance minister for calling for the annexation of nearly all of the occupied West Bank.
As we’ve been reporting, Bezalel Smotrich urged Benjamin Netanyahu earlier to annex most of the Palestinian territory, leaving out only six major cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.
GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said Smotrich’s “inflammatory calls confirm the occupation’s continuous and systematic approach of destabilising security and stability in the region”.
The move also reflects Israel’s “insistence on undermining peace opportunities and its blatant defiance of international conventions, as well as its continued violation of all laws and norms”, Albudaiwi said in a statement.
He “called on the international community to take immediate and deterrent measures to stop these inflammatory calls and dangerous practices by the Israeli occupation forces”.
Israel rejects Hamas ceasefire statement
Netanyahu’s office has rejected Hamas’s statement announcing its readiness to reach a ceasefire deal saying, “The war can end immediately” on the conditions set by the Israeli cabinet, which includes the release of all Israeli captives and the Palestinian group’s disarmament.
A statement also reiterated Israel’s demands for “the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civil government”.
Israeli news outlets also reported Defence Minister Israel Katz rejected Hamas’s statement by warning the group it only has “two options”.
“Soon it will understand that it must choose between two options: Accepting Israel’s conditions to end the war, first and foremost the release of all hostages and disarmament, or Gaza City will become the twin of Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” Haaretz reported the defence minister as saying.
“The [Israeli army] is preparing in full force,” Katz added.
