Israel takes first step to annex occupied West Bank territory

The Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) approved this Wednesday, in a preliminary reading with 25 votes in favor and 24 against, a proposal to annex the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank.

“The bill to apply sovereignty to the territories of Judea and Samaria was approved in preliminary reading by a majority of 25 in favor and 24 against,” detailed the Knesset on its channel in X.

This first step precedes three more votes will be needed in the Knesset to turn this bill into law, which reads: “the State of Israel will apply its laws and sovereignty to the settlement areas in Judea and Samaria, to establish the status of these areas as an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel.”

Parliamentarian Avio Maozleader of the Noam party, is the promoter of this law. During the parliamentary session, he declared that “the Lord, blessed be He, gave the people of Israel the Land of Israel”; in reference to the ‘Greater Israel’ that erases the Palestinian territories from the map.

This preliminary vote coincides with the visit to Israel of the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, who has supervised the Gaza ceasefire plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior military officials.

“The time has come for apply full sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) the inheritance of our ancestorsand to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbors from a position of strength,” the Minister of Finance, the far-right and settler, Bezalel Smotrich, celebrated in X.

The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, also of the extreme right and a settler, was quick to show his enthusiasm for this proposal and wrote on his X account: “The time for sovereignty has come now!”

Both ministers They already demanded the annexation of the West Bank from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in mid-September. in response to the recognition of the Palestinian State by more than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Palestine does not have territorial continuity, and while the political branch of Hamas ruled in Gaza, in the West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), headed by Mahmoud Abbas, remains.

Although in most of this area (the so-called Area C, which is equivalent to 60% of the territory) Israel has had both military and civilian control since the Oslo Accords.

Besides, There are hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints throughout the West Bankand a permit system that does not allow the free movement of Palestinians between cities, prohibiting many from entering Jerusalem (among other cities).