Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday that the country plans to “apply sovereignty” about 82% of the West Bank, a territory that currently belongs to the Palestinians.
The statement was made at a press conference in Jerusalem and reflected by the Turkish agency Anadolu. According to Smotrich, the purpose of the measure is to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
“Israeli sovereignty will be applied to 82% of the territory,” he said.
The minister, leader of the Israeli nationalist party religious Zionism, added that the time has come to end the division of the territory and consolidate Israel’s control in the region.
“It’s time to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria (as Israel calls the West Bank) and remove once and for all the idea of dividing our little land,” he said.
Smotrich detailed that Palestinian affairs, now under administration of the Palestinian Authority, will later be transferred to what he called “regional civil management alternatives”.
He stressed the principle that he would guide the attachment of the West Bank will be that of “maximum land with the minimum Arab population.” By definitively rejecting the proposal of two states, the minister stated: “There will never be, and there can never be, a Palestinian state in our land. If the Palestinian authority dares to get up and try to harm us, we will destroy them just as we do with Hamas.”
The measure is presented as a response to the movement of several Western countries that intend to officially recognize the State of Palestine during the UN General Assembly, which takes place between September 8 and 23 in the US. Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia recently announced plans in this regard, joining the 147 countries, including Brazil, which they have already recognized. For Smotrich, the attachment of the West Bank would be a “preventive step” in the face of this international pressure.
In the same vein, Smotrich asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a historic decision to formalize the annexation of all open areas of the West Bank.
In August, the Israeli government had already approved the project known as E1, which provides for the expansion of settlements in a strategic region near Jerusalem, dividing the West Bank into two and isolating the eastern part of the city.
Smotrich’s speech has already generated a strong regional reaction. According to BBCthe United Arab Emirates warned Israel on Thursday (4), stating that the attachment of the West Bank would surpass a “red line” and weaken the spirit of Abraham’s agreements, which normalized relations between the two countries in 2020. Lana Nusseibeh, a high employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, declared that “the annexation in the West Line would constitute a red line For the Emirates. It would severely weaken the vision and spirit of agreements, would close the search for regional integration and alter the widely shared consensus that the trajectory of this conflict must be that of two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security. ”
The Palestinian authority has classified Smotrich’s plan as a direct threat to hopes for independence. Currently, about 3.3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, where Israel has built approximately 160 settlements that house about 700,000 Israelis since the 1967 war. Constructions have been considered illegal by international law, although Israel rejects this interpretation.
