Days before polls, Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to annex settlements

A supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wearing a mask with the face of US President Donald Trump marches along an alley of the Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. Pic/AFP

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Saturday to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins the upcoming general election. His comments come just days before the closely-fought April 9 poll and could be seen as an appeal to rightwing voters, who do not believe in the feasibility of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

"I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he said in an interview with Channel 12 television. Settlements built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War are deemed illegal by the international community and their ongoing construction is seen as a major barrier to peace. Annexation could prove to be the death knell for the two-state solution.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's statement on annexation was "not surprising." "Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity, particularly with the Trump administration's support," he said on Twitter.

However, in an interview broadcast on Friday, Netanyahu said he told US President Donald Trump he would not remove settlements or people as part of a future American peace plan. "I said there shouldn't be the removal of even one settlement" from the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 13 television. Washington is expected to unveil proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace sometime after Tuesday's Israeli election.

2.5m
No. of Palestinians in West Bank

4 lakh
No. of Israelis in West Bank

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