Washington: Donald Trump has said he will not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The US president told White House reporters ahead of Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly on Friday: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank… It’s not going to happen,” reports BBC
Trump, who will meet Netanyahu on Monday, also said a ceasefire deal over the war in Gaza was “pretty close”.
Israel is facing increasing global pressure to end the conflict and occupation of the West Bank, as a wave of Western states formally recognise an independent Palestinian state.
BBC said that far-right Israelis view annexation as a means of preventing a Palestinian state being created.
Ultranationalists in Netanyahu’s governing coalition have repeated calls for Israel to annex the West Bank – part of the Palestinian territories – outright.
The UK and Germany say they have warned Israel against annexation, while UN Secretary General António Guterres said such a move would be “morally, legally and politically intolerable”.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he had spoken to Netanyahu as well as other Middle Eastern leaders.
“We’re getting pretty close to having a deal on Gaza, and maybe even peace,” Trump said.
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, BBC added.
The 89-year-old was barred from travelling to New York, where the UN headquarters are, by the US.
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.
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.
On Wednesday morning, 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.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
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.
Israel is under increasing pressure to end the war and occupation.
In addition to more countries recognising a Palestinian state, the European Commission has unveiled plans to restrict trade with Israel and impose sanctions on extremist ministers in its government, which – if adopted – would be the EU’s toughest response to the war in Gaza.
This week, Microsoft cut off some services to a unit of Israel’s Ministry of Defence after an investigation found its technology had been used to conduct mass surveillance on people in Gaza.
But Netanyahu has called for Israel to embrace increased self-sufficiency.
