Israeli lawmakers advance West Bank annexation bills despite Trump

Israeli lawmakers voted Wednesday to advance two bills calling for the formal annexation of the West Bank already occupied by Israel, an ambition openly promoted by far-right ministers in recent months but opposed by President Trump.

The vote in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, occurred with the vice president J.D. Vance visit Israel to reinforce the ceasefire in Gaza brokered by Mr. Trump’s administration. The president has made clear that he would not support annexation of the West Bank.

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” said Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House. in September. “That’s not going to happen.”

Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked lawmakers from his Likud party to abstain from voting. In a statement, the party called the vote “another provocation by the opposition aimed at damaging our relations with the United States.”

“True sovereignty will be achieved not by a flashy law on the record, but by proper work on the ground,” he added.

During a preliminary reading on Wednesday, lawmakers voted to examine two bills, meaning they will be presented for new readings in the Knesset. The first text, approved by 32 votes in favor and 9 against, proposed annexing Maale Adumim, a large Israeli settlement home to some 40,000 people just east of Jerusalem.

The second proposal to annex the entire West Bank was supported by 25 members, while 24 voted against. Nearly all lawmakers from Netanyahu’s Likud party boycotted the vote and one voted in favor of the measure, according to Israeli media. The Knesset has 120 members in total.

Far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have openly called for the annexation of the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

“Mr. Prime Minister. The Knesset has spoken. The people have spoken,” Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on social media.

“The time has come to impose full sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria – the heritage of our ancestors – and promote peace agreements in exchange for a strong peace with our neighbors,” he said, using the Israeli biblical term for the West Bank.

In a statement, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Knesset vote and said it “strongly rejects the Knesset’s attempts to annex Palestinian lands.”

“The ministry emphasized that the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, constitute a single geographical unit over which Israel has no sovereignty,” it said, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry also said it “strongly condemned” the votes, calling it “a flagrant violation of international law and a serious weakening of the two-state solution.”

All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, but Israel disputes this and Netanyahu’s government has supported their expansion.

In August, Israel approved a major civilian settlement project between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem in an area of ​​disputed territory that the international community warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.

At a signing ceremony for the project in September, Netanyahu promised there would be no Palestinian state. the 20 points Peace plan in the Middle East presented by the United States recognizes that there may be a “credible path” to the creation of a Palestinian state after the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank, undergoes reforms.

“We are going to keep our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim.

Excluding Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to about 3 million Palestinians, as well as more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements.

Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, violence has also increased in the West Bank, with Palestinian residents describing an escalation of attacks by Israeli settlers. Some attacks against Israelis, carried out by Palestinians with knives or firearms, have originated in the territory.

Vance met with Netanyahu on Wednesday as the fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, remains in place.

“We have a very, very difficult task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to improve the lives of the people in Gaza, but also ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel. That is not easy,” Vance told reporters. “There’s a lot of work to do, but I feel very optimistic about where we are.”

The News contributed to this report.

In:

• J.D. Vance
• Israel
• West Bank