The comments by US president Donald Trump rejecting Israeli annexation of the West Bank is a big blow to the right-wing in Israel but the expansion of Jewish settlements across the disputed territory is likely to continue apace.
In comments to reporters on Thursday in the Oval office, Mr Trump said: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. It’s not going to happen. It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.”
His clear cut redline, which came in advance of a White House meeting prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu next Monday, followed pressure from Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners for Israel to extend sovereignty over the West Bank in response to the declaration by a host of western states recognising a Palestinian state.
Arab and Muslim countries had warned Mr Trump about the grave consequences of annexation, including jeopardising the future of the Abraham Accords, considered the big foreign policy achievement of Mr Trump’s first term, under which a number of Arab states normalised ties with Israel.
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Right-wing Israeli politicians and settler leaders responded to Mr Trump’s annexation statement by urging Mr Netanyahu to ignore the comments.
“The Jewish people’s sovereignty over the Jewish homeland does not depend on any external source, even one as loving and friendly as can be,” Knesset member Zvi Sukkot, of the far-right Religious Zionist party, wrote on X, without mentioning Trump by name.
“Faced with European countries’ insane recognition of a Palestinian terror state, we must apply sovereignty (over the West Bank) already during this term,” he urged.
Dan Ilouz, a parliamentarian from Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, said the matter “is solely the decision of the Jewish people.”
Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria regional council – in the northern West Bank – also called on Mr Netanyahu to ignore Mr Trump’s comments.
“Netanyahu must tell Trump: ‘I am applying sovereignty’,” he said. “Only sovereignty over all open spaces and settlements will prevent a terror state in the heart of the country. The responsibility lies with Netanyahu.”
Although formal annexation is now off the table, what is termed “creeping annexation” – the systematic takeover of the West Bank by Jewish settlers – is likely to continue, and may even be accelerated, as the current Netanyahu government enters its final year before elections must be held.
In August the government approved the controversial E1 settlement project on the land between Jerusalem and the large settlement city of Maale Adumim to the east, in effect cutting the occupied West Bank in two.
The settlement expansion is being led by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionist party, who wants Israel to annex more than 80 per cent of the West Bank.
