ZCZC
BFF-13
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-SETTLERS-PEACE-LEAD
Netanyahu pledges to annex West Bank settlements after vote
JERUSALEM, April 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu pledged Saturday to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if
he wins the upcoming general election.
His comments come just days before the closely-fought April 9 poll and
could be seen as an appeal to rightwing voters, who do not believe in the
feasibility of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
“I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don’t distinguish between
settlement blocs and isolated settlements,” he said in an interview to
Channel 12 television.
Settlements built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War are
deemed illegal by the international community and their ongoing construction
is seen as a major barrier to peace.
Annexation could prove to be the death knell for the two-state solution.
In an interview broadcast Friday, Netanyahu said he told US President
Donald Trump he would not remove settlements or people as part of a future
American peace plan.
“I said there shouldn’t be the removal of even one settlement” from the
occupied West Bank, Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 13 television.
More than 400,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements as part of its
military occupation of the territory, where more than 2.5 million
Palestinians live.
A further 200,000 Israelis live in settlements in occupied east Jerusalem,
over which Israel has already implemented full sovereignty.
Washington is expected to unveil proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace
sometime after Tuesday’s Israeli election in which Netanyahu is seeking a
fifth term.
The Israeli prime minister was asked if he was familiar with the details of
the US plan, replying he knew “what should be in it.”
Along with settlements, “our ongoing control of all the territory west of
the Jordan” River was a further condition set by the Israeli premier for any
US-led peace initiative.
Netanyahu said he informed Trump not “even one person” would be evicted
from a settlement.
The US president on Saturday was cautious about the outcome of the Israeli
election on Tuesday, which he called a close race between “two good people”.
“How is the race going by the way? How is it, who’s going to win the race?
Tell me, I don’t know,” Trump asked the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las
Vegas.
“Well, it’s going to be close — I think it’s going to be close. Two good
people,” he said, referring to incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny
Gantz.
The latest polls place Netanyahu and ex-military chief Gantz neck and neck,
but give the former the advantage.
While Netanyahu has a close relationship with the US president, Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas cut off relations with Washington after Trump declared
the disputed city of Jerusalem Israel’s capital in December 2017.
The Palestinians say the US government’s pro-Israel bias meant it could no
longer lead peace negotiations between them and Israel, while US officials
argue their plan will be fair.
Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts have been at a standstill since 2014,
when a drive for a deal by Barack Obama’s administration collapsed.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0854 hrs