 "Israel’s parliament gives initial nod to West Bank annexation bill despite US opposition")
Israel’s parliament on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would apply Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, a move widely seen as a step toward annexation of territory sought by Palestinians for a future state.
The proposal, advanced by lawmakers outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, passed by a narrow 25–24 vote in the first of four required readings. A separate opposition bill to annex the Maale Adumim settlement also passed 31–9.
While Netanyahu’s Likud party did not support the measure, some members of his coalition, including from Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism faction, voted in favour. The vote came as US Vice President JD Vance visited Israel, a month after President Donald Trump stated he would not permit Israel to annex the West Bank.
Annexation calls, Abraham accords
Members of Netanyahu’s coalition have been calling for years for Israel to formally annex parts of the West Bank, territory to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.
Israel argues the territories it captured in the 1967 war are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied.
The U.N.’s highest court in 2024 said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Netanyahu’s government had been mulling annexation as a response to a string of its Western allies recognising a Palestinian state in September, but appeared to scrap the move after Trump’s objection.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPalestinian militant group Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that the Israeli votes on the West Bank and Maale Adumim bills reflected “the ugly face of the colonial occupation”.
“We affirm that the occupation’s frantic attempts to annex West Bank lands are invalid and illegitimate,” it said. Hamas has been trying to reassert its presence in the Gaza Strip after being pounded and severely weakened during two years of war with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu himself has not been explicit about annexation since a past election pledge was scrapped in 2020 in favour of normalising ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The UAE, the most prominent Arab country to establish ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by Trump in his first term in office, last month warned that annexation of the West Bank was a red line for the Gulf state.
Senior Emirati official Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic advisor to the UAE president, told the Reuters NEXT Gulf Summit in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday that maximalist views on the Palestinian issues are no longer valid.
With inputs from agencies
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