Middle East Monitor / February 29, 2020
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that he is not concerned with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Jordan’s threats as his government has already begun the annexation of the West Bank, Arab48 reported on Friday.
“I am not concerned with the threats by the PA and Jordan,” Arab48 reported Netanyahu conveying to Israeli economic newspaper, Makor Rishon.
Netanyahu disclosed that his government has approved and promises to build thousands of new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank and 3,500 new settlement units in Area E1, which he explained isolates the West Bank from Jerusalem.
“We are talking about fateful decisions, which we carried out regardless of all the threats,” Netanyahu confirmed. “We have also approved housing plans in the Sha’ar HaShomron settlement. This proves that big changes are happening here.”
“Let’s be clear, US President Donald Trump’s administration asked us to take decisions on Judea and Samaria (West Bank), where we plan to impose our sovereignty,” Netanyahu threatened.
“They [the US] would immediately recognise this annexation, which requires several weeks of work and maybe one or two months for the joint [US-Israeli] teams who are working on the demarcation of borders.”
He added: “Joint work has started extensively and we are talking about a large area with a border of 800 kilometres. When we finish building this area, the annexation would only have happened with me as prime minister.”
“If Benny Gantz was the prime minister, he would never carry out this step because he believes that he needs international and PA recognition. Do you think that they will agree with this?” Netanyahu posed.
