The 15 Likud party ministers who are part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, urged him on Wednesday through a letter to annex the Palestinian territory of the West Bank before the end of the month, taking advantage of the “historic” advances against Iran and Hamas.
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The letter is signed, among others, by the Ministers of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer; Defense, Israel Katz, and Energy, Eli Cohen, as well as by the President of the Parliament, Amir Ohana. The signatories call for an end to the “existential threat” that exists “from within”.
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Netanyahu is also a member of Likud, a right-wing party, but not one of the most radical in the Israeli cabinet.
What does the letter from the Likud ministers say?
“This is the moment for the government to approve the decision to apply sovereignty,” encouraged the Prime Minister before his trip next week to Washington where he will meet with the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The goal, as the text highlights, is to “prevent another massacre in the heart of the country” like the one on October 7, 2023, and they are asking the prime minister to carry it out before the end of the summer session of Parliament on July 27, as reported by The Times of Israel.
“The strategic partnership, support, and backing of the United States and President Donald Trump have made this a favorable moment to move forward and ensure the security of Israel for generations,” the signatories said.
The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who belongs to the far-right party Religious Zionism, has celebrated the initiative of his Likud cabinet colleagues and assured that as soon as Netanyahu gives the order, he will be ready to apply Israeli “sovereignty” in the West Bank.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority emphasized the “danger” that this type of claims poses to the peace process and recalled that they constitute a violation of all international norms and resolutions against the occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, Nabil Abu Rudeina, denounced, “These claims are part of the total war context being waged by the occupation authorities against our people, our land, and represent the persistent Israeli attempts to impose their plans to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”
Furthermore, he warned that these statements “only contribute to destabilization”, “do not guarantee anyone’s security”, and “keep the entire region on the brink of the abyss”. Similarly, they do not help the efforts of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar to achieve peace in the Gaza Strip.
What is the difference between the West Bank and Gaza?
Both the West Bank and Gaza are Palestinian territories captured by Israel, as well as East Jerusalem, in the Six-Day War of 1967.
But there are important geographical differences: while Gaza is an enclave in the south of Israel on the border with Egypt, the West Bank is a much larger territory, located between Israel and Jordan, with cities like Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, and Hebron.
Politically, Gaza is controlled by Hamas, while in the West Bank, the predominant group Fatah has been negotiating with Israel for decades. Thanks to the Oslo Accords of 1993, it managed to create the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which has limited control over some sectors of the West Bank territory.
Israel has built dozens of settlements throughout the West Bank, which have over 500,000 residents, despite international community questioning their legality. The settlers are Israeli citizens, while three million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule.
Several countries, including France, advocate for the two-state solution, one Israeli and the other Palestinian, essentially over the territory of the West Bank.