Israel’s Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday that he was currently drawing up maps for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, according to Reuters.
Despite Smotrich’s remarks, it remains unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the move.
At a press conference in Jerusalem, Smotrich stood beside a map highlighting plans for the potential annexation of most of the West Bank, excluding six major Palestinian cities such as Ramallah and Nablus.
He also noted that his objective is to bring “maximum territory and minimum (Palestinian) population” under Israeli sovereignty, calling on Netanyahu to accept his plan that is being drawn up by a department under Smotrich’s supervision in the Defense Ministry.
“The time has come to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, to remove once and for all from the agenda the idea of dividing our tiny land and establishing a terror state in its center,” Smotrich said.
In response to Smotrich’s plans, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that “any annexation or settlement activity by Israel is illegitimate, condemned, and unacceptable.”
“Who can defend a state with such small strategic depth? And this is why the goal of the sovereignty is to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda. And this is done when applying (sovereignty) to all of the territory, other than Arab population centers. I have no interest in letting them enjoy what the state of Israel has to offer,” he said.
Burying Idea of Palestinian State
In August, Smotrich announced that Israel would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state by dividing the West Bank and cut if off from East Jerusalem.
During his visit to Maale Adumim, Smotrich revealed that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 scheme, a long-delayed settlement.
“Whoever in the world is trying to recognize a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground. Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses, facts of neighborhoods,” Smotrich said.
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