Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing a plan to annex at least parts of the West Bank ahead of this month’s UN assembly, where several Western nations are set to recognize a Palestinian state, according to reports.
Netanyahu is expected to convene with his top ministers Thursday to discuss Israel’s response to Western pressure, which is being led by France over the destruction and looming famine in Gaza.
The Israeli premier is seriously considering applying sovereignty “to certain areas” of the West Bank, but he has yet to make a final decision despite pushes from members of his far-right coalition, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has long called for the annexation of the West Bank, has insisted that Netanyahu claim a “significant” portion of the Palestinian territory, “not merely symbolic application of sovereignty,” according to the outlet.
The meeting will include Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who claimed in July that the groundwork for annexing the West Bank has already been laid out.
The official land take-over could be as small as encompassing the land where Jewish settlers are illegally living, to a broad range plan calling for the annexation of as much as 60% of the West Bank, Israeli officials told CNN.
The West Bank, a large stretch of land that lies west of the River Jordan, is home to about 3 million people and is surrounded on three sides by Israel.
Israel claims historical and religious rights to the West Bank, describing it as the ancestral land of the Jewish people and the sites of the ancient Biblical kingdoms of Judah and Samaria.
The territory was ruled by Jordan until the 1967 Six-Day War, when it fell under Israeli occupation, leaving more than 2 million Palestinian Arabs living under both Israeli military rule and limited self-rule, currently under the Palestinian Authority.
Since then, Israelis began building settlements along the West Bank, which the majority of the international community has deemed illegal.
The West Bank and Gaza Strip stand as a Palestinian state recognized by 140 countries in the UN. France, Australia, Canada, Portugal, and the United Kingdom are set to join the list during the General Assembly meeting scheduled for Sept. 24.
Belgium Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot announced Monday that his country would join the group, saying Europe has a “duty to prevent any risk of genocide.”
Netanyahu has condemned the recognition of a Palestinian state, claiming such action only rewards the Palestinian terror group Hamas for its actions Oct. 7, 2023, when it killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others in Israel.
The US has remained Israel’s strongest supporter in the global community, with American ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee recently reiterating that the Jewish state is free to do what it wants with the West Bank.
