Netanyahu calls on new cabinet to maintain annexation plan, defies int’l opposition
“It's time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism,” Netanyahu said on Sunday as his so-called unity government, which he shares with his political rival Benny Ganz, was set to be sworn in later in the day.
He claimed, “These territories are where the Jewish nation was born and grew. This measure won't distance us from peace, it will bring us closer.”
The 70-year-old Chairman of the Likud Party said there was no question that “hundreds of thousands of our Jewish brothers in Judea and Samaria will always stay in their place as part of any final peace agreement.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu and his former election rival and centrist Blue and White leader Benny Gantz ended more than a year of political deadlock, and swore in their new power-sharing cabinet, after three rounds of elections yielded inconclusive results.
The Israeli prime minister formally presented the members of his new cabinet to the Knesset in the afternoon, while opposition members of Knesset heckled him.
Under his accord with Gantz, Netanyahu will remain prime minister for 18 months before handing over to his new partner.
Netanyahu has set July 1 for the start of cabinet discussions on extending Israeli appropriation to settlements in the West Bank and annexing the Jordan Valley.
His pledge to apply Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements, and annex part of the occupied Palestinian territories has been met with vehement international opposition.
Jordan’s monarch King Abdullah II has starkly warned Israel of a “massive conflict” if it proceeds with the controversial plans, as European Union foreign ministers agreed to ramp up diplomatic efforts to try to block such a move.
“Leaders who advocate a one-state solution do not understand what that would mean,” King Abdullah said in an interview published by the German news magazine, Der Spiegel, on Friday.
“What would happen if the Palestinian National Authority collapsed? There would be more chaos and extremism in the region. If Israel really annexed the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” he said.
“I don't want to make threats and create an atmosphere of loggerheads, but we are considering all options. We agree with many countries in Europe and the international community that the law of strength should not apply in the Middle East,” the Jordanian ruler added.
Moreover, EU foreign ministers reaffirmed their support for a so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and opposition to any Tel Aviv regime’s annexation plan.
The ministers reached an agreement to mount diplomatic efforts in the coming days with the Israeli regime, the Palestinian Authority, the US as well as Arab countries.
“We reaffirm our position in support of a negotiated, two-state solution. For this to be possible, unilateral action from either side should be avoided and, for sure, international law should be upheld,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after a virtual meeting with the top diplomats on Friday.
“We must work to discourage any possible initiative toward annexation. International law has to be upheld. Here, and there, and everywhere,” Borrell noted.
The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
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