“Threat to stability” German ambassador sharply criticizes Israel’s annexation plans
November 12, 2024, 9:01 p.m. Listen to article
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Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich reopens a simmering conflict. The right-wing extremist politician wants to annex 30 percent of the occupied West Bank. However, the Palestinians claim it as their state. The German ambassador to Israel, Seibert, condemns this plan.
The German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, has sharply criticized Israel’s plans for a possible annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s demand to exercise “sovereignty” over the West Bank is “an open call for annexation,” Seibert wrote on Add contribution. “We strongly condemn this announcement, which threatens the stability of the entire region.”
Israel’s far-right finance minister announced Monday that next year would be “the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” using the Israeli term for the West Bank. Donald Trump’s upcoming return to the White House in Washington is an “important opportunity for the State of Israel.”
Smotrich, whose portfolio includes areas of the Defense Ministry, said he had ordered preparations for the “application of sovereignty” in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 490,000 Israelis live there in settlements that the United Nations has classified as violating international law. The Treasury Secretary added that Trump “took dramatic steps” during his first term in office, including recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
“Time to do it”
“We were close to taking sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said. “Now is the time to do it.” The minister emphasized that he would insist that Israel’s government work with the new US government on this matter.
Smotrich follows up on plans suspended in 2020 to annex the Israeli settlement blocs and thus around 30 percent of the West Bank, which has been occupied since 1967, but which the Palestinians claim for their desired state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The annexation plans were not pursued further during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office because of the Abraham Accords with Arab countries in the region. The agreements are treaties to normalize Israel’s relations with Arab states.
