Israeli minister calls for Netanyahu cabinet to accelerate annexation of West Bank
Iran Press TV
Wednesday, 02 July 2025 3:53 PM
Israeli minister Yariv Levin has called for Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet to accelerate the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Levin, along with settler community leaders, at a meeting on Wednesday demanded the expansion of settlements.
"The time for sovereignty has come, the time to apply sovereignty. My position on this matter is firm, it is clear," the minister was quoted as saying.
"I think that this period, beyond the current issues, is a time of historic opportunity that we must not miss."
The minister claimed the West Bank annexation was essential for the security of the regime. He called the occupied territory "not just the heart of the land but also the safety belt for Israel."
In June, the Israeli regime unveiled a new plan for taking more land from the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The plan, led by far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich, includes the legalization of settler outposts and the forced displacement of the Bedouin communities.
The occupied West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967.
And since October 2023, the regime's authorities have been redrawing an illusory map of the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military has intensified daily raids and mass arrests, notably in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, where Israeli bulldozers have razed entire residential areas, expelling at least 40,000 people.
As of the end of 2024, approximately 770,000 illegal Israeli settlers lived in the West Bank, across 180 settlements and 256 outposts - including 138 classified as agricultural or pastoral, according to Palestinian reports.
Israeli data show illegal settlers staged 414 attacks against the Palestinians in the West Bank in the first half of 2025, up 30% from 2024.
Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers since October 2023.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds. All mere words.
The head of the popular committee in the Tulkarem refugee camp said about 400 families would be made homeless by the Israeli order to demolish more than 100 homes.
On Tuesday, local Palestinians gathered in the camp to recover their possessions from their homes before they are demolished by Israeli forces.
The Tulkarem official said the deadline given by Israeli authorities to retrieve belongings was insufficient for families to remove their possessions.
Israel has already occupied vast pieces of Palestinian agricultural land to construct and expand new settler units in various areas of the West Bank.
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