Far-right
minister calls for Israeli sovereignty in West Bank in 2025
By Reuters
November 11,
20247:58 PM GMT+1Updated 2 days ago
Summary
Palestinian
spokesperson says annexation would defy international law
Smotrich
instructs authorities to prepare infrastructure for extending sovereignty
Foreign
Minister Saar says no decision yet on extending sovereignty into West Bank
JERUSALEM,
Nov 11 (Reuters) - Israel's far-right finance minister said on Monday he hoped
Israel would extend sovereignty into the occupied West Bank in 2025 and that he
would push the government to engage the incoming Trump administration to gain
Washington's support.
Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also wields a defence ministry supervisory role
for settlers as part of his coalition deal with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, said he hoped the Trump administration would recognise an Israeli
sovereignty push.
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Israel's
foreign minister said separately that while no decision was made, the issue
could come up in talks with the future U.S. administration in Washington.
Nabil Abu
Rudeineh, the spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said
Smotrich's remarks confirmed the Israeli government's intention to annex the
West Bank in defiance of international law.
"We
hold the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the repercussions
of these dangerous policies," he said. The United States was also
responsible for the continuous support it offered to Israel's aggression, he
said.
Smotrich has
for years called for Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank, land Palestinians
want for a future state.
At a meeting
of his far-right faction in parliament on Monday, Smotrich said he had
instructed Israeli authorities overseeing West Bank settlements "to begin
professional and comprehensive staff work to prepare the necessary
infrastructure" for extending sovereignty, according to a statement from
his office.
He also said
he would push the government to engage the incoming Trump administration to
recognise such a move.
However
earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the government's position
on the issue of extending sovereignty into the West Bank had not yet been
settled.
"A
decision has not yet been made on the issue," he told a news conference in
Jerusalem.
"The
last time we discussed this issue was in the first term of President
Trump," he said. "And so let's say that if it will be relevant, it
will be discussed again also with our friends in Washington."
"It is
important to state that Israel sees what we call Judea and Samaria and others
call the West Bank not as occupied territories but as disputed
territories."
The United
States has for decades backed a two-state solution between Israel and the
Palestinians and has urged Israel not to expand settlements. In 2020, during
Trump's first term, discussions were held between Israel and Washington on
plans to annex parts of the West Bank.
The West
Bank is among territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and
where Palestinians, with international support, seek statehood. Most world
powers deem the settlements illegal. Israel disputes that, citing historical
claims to the West Bank and describing it as a security bulwark.
Reporting by
Steven Scheer, James Mackenzie and Ari Rabinovitch Editing by Peter Graff,
William Maclean and Cynthia Osterman
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