BICOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to apply Israeli sovereignty to all settlements in the West Bank if he wins the elections and forms the next Government.

When asked in a Channel 12 interview why he hadn’t annexed the settlements, after leading a right-wing government for over a decade, Netanyahu said: “Who says we won’t do that? We’re on the way. The next term will be fateful.”

He added: “I am going to apply Israeli sovereignty, but I don’t distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements. From my perspective, each of those settlement points is Israeli. We have responsibility [for them] as the government of Israel. I don’t uproot any, and I won’t transfer them to the sovereignty of the Palestinians. I take care of them all.”

In an interview on Channel 13 last Friday, Netanyahu said he discussed the future of settlements with US President Donald Trump: “I said there can’t be the removal of even one settlement, and [that Israel insists on] our continued control of all the territory to the west of the Jordan.”

Netanyahu has previously blocked attempts to annex settlements. In January 2017 he halted attempts by Naftali Bennett to annex Ma’ale Adumim and other areas. In February 2018 he stopped the Knesset from debating the so-called ‘Sovereignty bill,’ proposed by first-time legislators Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home).

Palestine Liberation Organisation chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said in response: “Such a statement by Netanyahu is not surprising. Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity. We’ll continue to pursue our rights through international forums, including the international criminal court, until we achieve our long overdue justice.”

The Israeli Defence Ministry announced yesterday that it has advanced plans for 3,600 new settlement homes in the West Bank. Nearly 1,200 of the homes are to be built beyond the Green Line in settlements such as Shilo, Elon Moreh, Rehelim, Mitzpe Jericho and Nokdim.

Acting UK Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Mark Field said: “The UK strongly condemns the Israeli authorities’ advancement on 5 April of plans and tenders for yet more settlement units across the West Bank … settlements are illegal under international law and undermine the physical viability of the two-state solution.”