’Israeli’ Minister Calls for Annexation of WB Settlements

Local Editor

A senior "Israeli" minister urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex a swathe of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying the so-called "peace" talks with the Palestinian Authority were dead.

The comments by Economy Minister Naftali Bennett came as "Israeli" authorities announced on Thursday that they would confiscate about some 250 acres of private Palestinian land south of Bethlehem in the West Bank.

The US-backed negotiations came close to collapse last week amidst mutual recrimination and although the two sides are seeking to overcome the crisis, Netanyahu has already started to impose punitive sanctions on the Palestinians.

Bennett, who is head of the so-called "ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party", wrote Bibi late on Wednesday saying "Israel" should extend its sovereign territory to a number of major settlement blocs.

Mega settlements, such as Ma'ale Adumin, are built on land occupied in the 1967 war. Successive governments have said the blocs, deemed illegal under international law, should remain part of "Israel" in any negotiated deal with the Palestinian Authority.
"It is clear that the current process has exhausted itself and that we are entering a new era," said Bennett, urging Netanyahu to annex a number of large settlements.

He further stated: "These are areas which enjoy a wide national consensus, have security implications and have historical significance for "Israel"."
A high-tech entrepreneur and a former settler leader, Bennett has called in the past for annexing a much larger part of the West Bank.

Netanyahu made no comment on Bennett's request, but is likely to face strident calls from within his own rightist Likud party to annex the blocs, occupied by an estimated 350,000 "Israelis", if the latest talks implode.

However, such a move would almost certainly set off a storm of international condemnation, and "Israel's" chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said Bennett was acting like a "provocative child" who needed parental restraint.
"If you want to go totally crazy, keep it up until we can no longer make a deal and lose everything we hold dear," Livni, who serves as a so-called "justice" minister, wrote on her Facebook page.

South of Bethlehem, deputy mayor of the village of al-Khader, Ismail Issa, revealed that high-level "Israeli" military commanders, officers toured private Palestinian fields with a group of settlers in areas near the village.

The "Israelis" left yellow posters reading "State properties! No entry," Issa said.
He added that the "Israeli" officers dropped copies of a statement which explained that 250 acres of private land were slated for confiscation.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team