Israel ‘won’t miss historic opportunity’ to annex parts of West Bank, Netanyahu says

Israel will not miss a “historic opportunity” to extend its sovereignty over parts of the West Bank, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. At a meeting of legislators of his right-wing Likud party on Monday, Netanyahu set land moves in the West Bank as “perhaps the first in importance in many respects” of the tasks to be undertaken by the government.

“We have a historic opportunity, which hasn’t existed since 1948, to apply sovereignty judiciously as a diplomatic… step in Judea and Samaria,” the PM said. “It is a big opportunity and we will not let it pass by.”

The statement comes a day after the start of his corruption trial. He denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Netanyahu has pledged to put Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank under Israeli sovereignty, setting July 1 as a starting date for cabinet discussions on the issue, Reuters said. The PM has cited US President Donald Trump’s plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace as underpinning de facto annexation. The Palestinians have rejected the plan.