The halt comes once again from Donald Trump: Israel will not annex the West Bank, if it did so it would "lose all the support" of the United States , because - the American president himself explained - "I gave my word to the Arab countries" during the negotiations to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
For the White House, this is a red line that Benjamin Netanyahu must not cross: "It would be a threat to peace," warned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The entire US administration had been forced to reiterate that the West Bank could not be annexed by the Knesset's preliminary vote on two bills to extend Israeli sovereignty to what Israel calls Judea and Samaria . But the warning was enough for Netanyahu to backtrack and block the bill's parliamentary progress, calling the vote "a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President Vance's visit ." The White House deputy president had in fact been "very surprised," if not outright "offended," by the bill's acceleration while he was in Israel, calling it "a stupid political exercise."
"The Likud and the religious parties (the main coalition members)," the prime minister's office then went on to clarify, "did not vote in favor of these bills, with the exception of a disgruntled Likud member, Yuli Eldestein, who was recently dismissed as chairman of a Knesset committee. Without the support of the Likud," Netanyahu assured, "these bills are unlikely to pass ."
The Knesset initiative, promoted by MK Avi Maoz of the far-right Noam party, has also been condemned by several Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, which, along with the United States, are guarantors of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. It has also been condemned by Saudi Arabia, which Trump wants to include in the Abraham Accords, the flagship of his first term, by the end of the year.
Annexation or not, settler violence continues to escalate, with settlers setting fire to several Palestinian vehicles this morning in the West Bank town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah . Local sources told Wafa that settlers attacked the Al-Tall area of the town and set fire to several vehicles parked in front of Palestinian homes. No injuries were reported during the assault.
This incident comes, the Palestinian agency emphasizes, at a time of increasing settler violence across the occupied West Bank, particularly during the olive harvest season, with armed settler groups intensifying attacks on Palestinian farmers, property and agricultural land .
(Unioneonline)
