Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed a bill currently being debated in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that would effect the annexation of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), which Palestinians claim as theirs.
The bill was being debated as prominent American officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were visiting Israel in support of the Gaza ceasefire and efforts at regional diplomacy.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said:
The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel. The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset.
The Likud party and the religious parties (the principal coalition members) did not vote for these bills, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee. Without Likud support these bills are unlikely to go anywhere.
Judea and Samaria are the Biblical heartland of Israel. They are also home to prominent Palestinian Arab cities. When Jordan controlled the area, from 1948 to 1967, it made no effort to create a Palestinian state. However, Palestinians now want the area for a state of their own.
Israel offered almost all of the area to the Palestinians in previous peace negotiations, but the Palestinian leadership refused to accept the offers. Still, most of the Palestinians who live there are governed by the Palestinian Authority and not by Israel.
Today, the area is home to large Israeli cities and communities, referred to colloquially as settlements. Many Israelis, including Netanyahu, believe that Israel should extend formal sovereignty to the settlements.
Others wish to see Israel claim all of the area. The U.S. government, however, has pressured Israel not to change the formal status of Judea and Samaria, hoping to keep open the possibility of negotiations with the Palestinians.
President Donald Trump has also pressed Israel to refrain from annexation because it is strongly opposed by Arab states that otherwise want peace with Israel.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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