Smotrich announces Israel's annexation plan covering 82% of West Bank
Iran Press TV
Wednesday, 03 September 2025 6:53 PM
Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to annex more than 80 percent of the occupied West Bank in a bid to block the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"Israeli sovereignty will be applied to 82 percent of the territory," Smotrich said at a press conference in occupied al-Quds on Wednesday.
Smotrich stated that the main principle of annexation is "the maximum land with minimum Arab population."
"There will never, and can never be, a Palestinian state in our land," Smotrich said.
"It is time to apply Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank and remove once and for all the idea of dividing our small land," the far-right minister added.
He said the Palestinians' affairs will be run by the Palestinian Authority, which will be later replaced with what he called "regional civilian management alternatives."
"If the Palestinian Authority dares to rise up and try to harm us, we will destroy them just as we do to Hamas."
Smotrich called the West Bank annexation "a preventative step" against moves by many countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Long-time Western allies of Israel, including Belgium, France, the UK, Canada, and Australia, have announced plans to recognize Palestinian statehood during the upcoming UN General Assembly sessions from September 8-23. They would join 147 nations that already formally recognize Palestine.
Smotrich called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to make a historic decision to apply Israeli sovereignty to all open areas in the West Bank."
Last month, Israel approved a major settlement project, called E1, which aims to split the occupied West Bank into two parts, cutting off the northern cities of Ramallah and Nablus from Bethlehem and al-Khalil in the south and isolating East al-Quds.
The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution.
The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the main signatory of the US-backed deal that saw Israel normalize relations with three Arab states, warned on Wednesday that Israel's annexation of any part of the occupied West Bank would be a "red line" that would "end the pursuit of regional integration."
"Annexation in the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE," Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the UAE's foreign ministry, said in a statement.
"It would severely undermine the vision and spirit of (the Abraham) Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration, and would alter the widely-shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be - two states living side by side in peace, prosperity, and security," Nusseibeh stated.
In 2020, the UAE became the first Arab country in 26 years to normalize relations with Israel under the "Abraham Accords", with Bahrain and Morocco following soon after.
Abu Dhabi has since deepened trade and military ties with Israel.
UAE and some other Arab countries, along with the US-led Western countries, have been strongly criticized for largely remaining silent on the ongoing Israeli genocidal war in Gaza.
Earlier this year, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that the Israeli policy of expanding and consolidating settlements across the occupied West Bank amounts to "a war crime."
The UN rights chief said Israel must evacuate all settlers from the occupied West Bank and make reparations for decades of illegal settlement. Turk urged the international community to take meaningful action against the occupying entity.
In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
