US President Donald Trump has ruled out allowing Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, directly challenging pressure from far-right elements within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, the BBC reported.
“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding “There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.”
He stressed that Washington is working towards a Gaza ceasefire, claiming a deal is “pretty close.”
According to the BBC, Netanyahu’s coalition partners have been pushing for annexation as a way to block mounting international recognition of a Palestinian state.
In recent weeks, Canada, Australia, the UK, Portugal, France, Belgium, and other European nations have formally recognized Palestine, intensifying pressure on Israel to end the Gaza war and occupation of Palestinian territories.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned that annexation would be “morally, legally and politically intolerable,” and both the UK and Germany have privately cautioned Israel against taking such a step.
Trump, who met Arab and Muslim leaders at the UN last week, has reportedly been urged by Saudi Arabia and others to prevent Israel from moving forward, with Riyadh warning of serious regional consequences, added the BBC.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly via video link the same day that he was ready to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians that was announced by France on Monday.
The 89-year-old was barred from travelling to New York, where the UN headquarters are, by the US.
Abbas thanked countries which had recently recognised a Palestinian state in a wave of declarations that began with Canada, Australia, the UK and Portugal on Sunday, and was followed by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and Denmark.
The US is currently opposed to recognising Palestine, saying such a move would be a reward for Hamas.
“Hamas will not have a role to play in governance,” Abbas said in his speech. He also called for a Palestinian state to assume “full responsibilities” for the Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal and connect it with the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
At the UN on Tuesday, Trump met the leaders of key Arab and Muslim nations, who warned him of consequences if Israel moved ahead with annexation.
“I think the president of the US understands very well the risks and dangers of annexation in the West Bank,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters afterwards.
On Wednesday, Israel closed the only crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and neighbouring Jordan, preventing more than two million Palestinians from accessing the outside world.
The closure came days after two Israeli military personnel were shot dead near the crossing by a Jordanian gunman who was killed at the scene.
In Gaza, more than 80 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City, local hospitals said.
At least 65,419 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hama-run health ministry, including more than 18,000 children.
