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Several ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government demanded that Israel annex the occupied West Bank, after the UK and three other countries formally recognised Palestine on Sunday.
The landmark move by the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal is set to be replicated at the UN on Monday by France and several other countries, in what is likely to be the most significant wave of recognitions for more than a decade.
The co-ordinated moves are the latest sign of the international horror at the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s 23-month campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The conflict has tipped part of the strip into famine and drawn accusations — which Israel denies — that it is committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave.
But the announcements have provoked a furious response in Israel, with Netanyahu insisting on Sunday that there would be “no Palestinian state” and accusing those recognising it of rewarding Hamas for its October 7 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the current war.
In the wake of the recognitions, Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is himself a settler, reiterated his demands that Israel should immediately annex the West Bank, which Israel has subjected to a military occupation since 1967.
“The days when the UK and other countries determined our future are over,” Smotrich said in a statement. “The British mandate [over Palestine] has ended.”
His demands were echoed by his fellow far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir — who called for the “complete dismantling” of the Palestinian Authority — and by ministers from Netanyahu’s Likud party, including defence minister Israel Katz.
Economy minister Nir Barkat also called for annexation, writing on X that “our real answer should be to dissolve the Palestinian Authority, apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, and recognise local leadership like the Emirate of Hebron that wants to join the Abraham Accords”.
“After the horrors of October 7, no delusional declaration by the leaders of countries affected by Islamist immigration will result in the establishment of a de facto Palestinian state,” he wrote.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would deliver Israel’s response to the recognitions of Palestine when he returned from the US after meeting President Donald Trump next week.
According to officials and diplomats, Netanyahu and his allies have been mulling various options for annexing parts of the West Bank, which is home to more than 3mn Palestinians, but are keen to ensure that any move has the backing of the US.
Foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar and strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer had previously told countries considering recognising Palestine that Israel would respond by annexing the part of the West Bank known as Area C, according to people familiar with the discussions. The territory, which accounts for 60 per cent of the West Bank, is under Israeli security and civilian control.
Dermer has also sounded out US officials about Israel annexing the Jordan Valley, a smaller piece of land that forms the border between the West Bank and Jordan.
Diplomats said a third, more limited option would be to annex settlements close to the Green Line, which separates Israel and the West Bank.
However, any move to annex part of the West Bank would be likely to draw a fierce international response. The United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab states to have diplomatic relations with Israel, has warned it would be a “red line” and would end diplomatic efforts to integrate Israel into the region.
Meanwhile, European diplomats say that countries could respond with measures such as imposing restrictions on trade with Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
“We have been clear — and I have been clear to the Israeli foreign minister — that they must not do that,” UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC, when asked about plans to annex the West Bank.
Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday said the south-east Asian country planned to impose sanctions against leaders of Israeli settler groups. He added that Singapore would consider recognising Palestine as a state.
Singapore and Israel have been close allies for six decades. But relations have deteriorated as the city-state has grown increasingly frustrated with Israel’s actions over Gaza.
Additional reporting by Owen Walker in Singapore and David Sheppard in London
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