KEY POINTS
- Trump warns Israel could lose US support if it annexes the occupied West Bank.
- Trump says annexation would violate US commitments to Arab countries supporting the Gaza peace plan.
- Vance and Rubio condemn Israeli moves toward annexation, calling them “stupid” and “counterproductive.”
- US officials warned annexation could jeopardise the fragile Gaza truce.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has warned that Israel would lose its crucial backing from the United States if it annexes the occupied West Bank, according to an interview published by Time magazine on Thursday.
Trump’s comments, which Time said were made by telephone on October 15, were published as both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against any annexation.
“It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now. We’ve had great Arab support,” Trump said when asked what the consequences would be for Israel if it did so.
“Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
Trump then said that he would be “making a decision” on whether Israel should release high-profile Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti as part of peace moves.
Barghouti — from the Fatah movement — was among the Palestinian prisoners Hamas wanted to see released as part of the Gaza deal, according to Egyptian state-linked media.
Trump has dispatched a stream of top officials to Israel in recent days to shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire he brokered earlier this month.
But as Vance wrapped up his three-day visit and Rubio arrived, Israeli lawmakers advanced two bills paving the way for West Bank annexation.
Vance said it was a “very stupid political stunt and I personally take some insult to it.”
As Rubio left Washington he warned Israel against annexing the West Bank, saying steps taken by parliament and settler violence threatened the Gaza truce.
‘Very stupid political stunt’
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the preliminary parliamentary votes were “not something we can be supportive of right now” and warned they could be “threatening” to the truce and the wider peace process.
The warnings came as US Vice-President J.D. Vance, concluding a visit to Israel, called the Knesset votes “a very stupid political stunt” and said Trump’s policy was that “the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
Vance said he felt “insulted” by the timing of the votes.
The Knesset advanced two bills in preliminary readings on Wednesday — one that would apply Israeli occupation to Ma’ale Adumim and a wider text proposing to extend Israeli law across parts of the occupied West Bank.
The measures passed by narrow margins and must clear further committee scrutiny and three more readings to become law.
Risk to fragile Gaza ceasefire
Rubio, travelling to Israel to ensure implementation of a multi-stage US plan for Gaza, said annexation moves could jeopardise efforts to move to the second phase of the plan, which envisages an interim Gaza authority, withdrawal of Israeli forces and deployment of an international stabilisation force.
“At this time, it’s something that we… think might be counterproductive,” he told reporters.
US officials have been pressing Israeli and regional partners to protect the ceasefire that has allowed hostage releases, the return of some bodies and limited humanitarian flows.
They say any step that inflames tensions in the West Bank could ruin support from Arab and Muslim countries needed to provide personnel and funds for a stabilisation force in Gaza.
Muslim countries condemn Israeli move
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Djibouti, Oman, Gambia, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, condemn in the strongest terms the approval of Israeli Knesset of two draft laws aiming to impose a so called “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank, and on Israeli illegal colonial settlements as a blatant violation of international law, and of United Nations Security Council resolutions particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem — in addition to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which affirmed the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the invalidity of settlement construction and annexation measures in the occupied West Bank. They reaffirm that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Palestinian and regional condemnation
The Palestinian foreign ministry in Ramallah condemned the Knesset move, saying it “strongly rejects the Knesset’s attempts to annex Palestinian land” and reaffirming that the occupied West Bank and Gaza constitute a single geographic unit over which Israel has no sovereignty, the official Wafa news agency reported.
Jordan also described the Israeli parliament votes as a blatant violation of international law.
International rights bodies and many governments consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. The latest parliamentary action drew strong criticism from across the region and beyond.
Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned Israel’s attempt to extend its so-called “sovereignty” over parts of the occupied West Bank, including illegal settlements, through a draft law introduced in the occupying power’s legislature, calling the move a flagrant breach of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Pakistan said such “provocative and unlawful measures” undermine efforts to achieve peace and stability, and urged the international community to take urgent, decisive steps to halt the move and hold the Israeli occupying forces to account for continuing violations.
Reaffirming long-standing policy, Pakistan pledged to work with regional and international partners to uphold the rights of Palestinians, including the right to self-determination, and reiterated support for an independent, sovereign, viable and contiguous State of Palestine on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Rising violence in West Bank and Gaza toll
The move on annexation comes amid heightened violence across the occupied Palestinian territories and a catastrophic toll in Gaza after a two-year Israeli bombardment campaign since October 7, 2023.
Gaza’s health authorities report more than 68,300 people have been killed in the Israeli bombardment campaign, figures that United Nations agencies and humanitarian organisations say reflect the scale of the crisis.
United Nations and aid officials have repeatedly warned that further instability in the West Bank and any undermining of the ceasefire would exacerbate humanitarian suffering and complicate reconstruction and stabilisation plans.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior ministers have in recent days sought to defuse tensions with the US as Washington presses for the preservation of the truce and a smooth transition to the next phase of the Gaza plan.
