Palestinians Denounce Netanyahu’s Pledge To Annex West Bank Settlements

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - APRIL 02:  Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu gesture to supporters as they visit Tel Aviv's vegetable market Hatikva on April 2, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel.  (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - APRIL 02: Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu gesture to supporters as they visit Tel Aviv's vegetable market Hatikva on April 2, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israeli... TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - APRIL 02: Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu gesture to supporters as they visit Tel Aviv's vegetable market Hatikva on April 2, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israeli legislative elections are set to take place on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter
DEAD SEA, Jordan (AP) — Israel’s leader will face a “real problem” if he follows through with his election campaign promise to annex Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian foreign minister said Sunday.

Riad Malki told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jordan that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge was likely aimed at rallying his nationalist base in the final stretch of a tight race.

He added that Palestinians would “resist” such a policy if carried out.

“If Netanyahu wants to declare Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, then you know he has to face a real problem, the presence of 4.5 million Palestinians, what to do with them,” Malki said, apparently referring to the combined Palestinian population of the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

He said Israel cannot expel the Palestinians. “We will stay there,” he said. “The international community has to deal with us.”

Malki accused the U.S. of encouraging Netanyahu by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and, more recently, recognizing Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights.

In a prime-time interview Saturday, Netanyahu was asked why he hadn’t annexed some of the larger Jewish settlements in the West Bank during his current term.

“The question you are asking is an interesting question, whether we will move to the next stage and the answer is yes,” he said. “We will move to the next stage, the imposing of Israeli sovereignty.”

Netanyahu has promoted Jewish settlement expansion in his four terms as prime minister, but until now refrained from presenting a detailed vision for the West Bank, viewed by Palestinians as the heartland of a future state.

It would mark a dramatic shift for Netanyahu, ahead of Tuesday’s balloting. Annexing settlements would all but end any chance of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and potentially push the sides toward a single, binational state.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also expressed concerns about America’s “illegitimate decisions” in the region. “We see the solution in dialogue between countries, because unilateral actions will never lead to anything good,” he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slammed Netanyahu’s annexation pledge as an “irresponsible statement to seek votes.”

Cavusoglu said on Twitter that the West Bank is Palestinian territory, adding: “the Israeli general elections cannot and will not change this fact.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. I was impressed to see Benny Gantz dismiss Netanyahu’s pronouncement on annexing the West Bank as a gimmick and saying that Bibi had 12 years to do it and didn’t get anything done. I think Gantz may have effectively blunted a typical late game Bibi move.

  2. I’m just surprised Mr. Tweet hasn’t jumped in with an announcement that the U.S. is in full support of the annexation…

  3. The Israeli election is a little more than 24 hours away (Tuesday). I’ve been following the campaign. Here’s a summary of observations:

    • In 49 polls taken since the start of the campaign, Netanyahu’s present governing coalition sits at an average of 57 seats. It takes 61 to form a government. Therefore, the Likud coalition is short by 4 seats. If you look at the last 10 polls, the average is 56 seats, so results don’t change much based on subsets of polls.
    • In addition, the new Blue-White centrist coalition party of Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid (Kahol Lavon) are, per polls, leading as the largest single party with 32 seats (on average) to Likud’s 29 seats.
    • That said, it is also the case that the parties on the center right to far right average around 65 seats in polls.
    • Therefore, it’s quite conceivable that Netanyahu puts together a new coalition including some of the right leaning parties that are not presently part of his current gov’t to get the 61 votes he needs to form a new gov’t post election.
    • However, Gantz, as former Chief of Staff to the IDF, a centrist and someone who is campaigning on national unity, has credibility among center-right voters. If Blue-White ends up with the highest number of seats, it’s not inconceivable and perhaps quite likely that he will be asked to form a gov’t and serve as the PM, and that he can do so by getting some of these right leaning parties to work with him.
    • In addition, some of the right leaning parties that are not presently in the Likud led gov’t have beef with Bibi. Moshe Feiglin (head of the libertarian-right pro-pot Zehut (the weirdest party in this group)), Moshe Kalon (Kulanu) & Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beitenu) have each left the Likud party or gov’t at some point. Gantz’s coalition partner, Yair Lapid, also left the gov’t.
    • Bibi seems to acknowledge this risk, even saying to the Jerusalem Post that he thought Gantz would win the most seats and be asked to form a gov’t. It’s also why he threw out this last minute ‘I will annex the West Bank’ claim. He’s trying to drive up fear and motivate far right voters to ditch far right parties and vote for Likud. That’s the type of gamble that has worked for Bibi in the past. However, Bibi will need the far right to keep him in office and out of jail as an impending indictment looms. In addition, if this gambit does not pay off and Blue/White wins the most seats, these right leaning parties are going to be pissed off at Bibi and they might be more inclined to support Gantz.
    • Israeli media are really not much better than our own. They’ve totally underreported the criminal indictment matters and have filled the news cycle with pro-Bibi, anti/Gantz propaganda. All that said, the stability of the polls suggests that voters are not buying it. A left candidate can’t win in Israel, but a centrist who can stand toe to toe with Bibi can. Gantz appears to be the toughest matchup that Bibi has had in years.

    Right now, I’d say that If Blue/White wins the highest number of seats, it’s looking more likely that Gantz will get a shot to form a gov’t. The gap between Blue/White v. Likud is 3 seats per polls. It’s very tight, so we’ll have to just wait for the results and then see if Gantz or Bibi is in the better position to form a gov’t.

  4. Avatar for zach zach says:

    Thanks for that information.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

27 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for cabchi Avatar for ajm Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for topcat Avatar for tecmage Avatar for nemo Avatar for greylady Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for zach Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for khyber900 Avatar for dominic Avatar for zenicetus Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for c_stedman Avatar for entrada

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: