U.S. has discussed with Israel the annexation of the West Bank, said the White house
WASHINGTON, 12 Feb — RIA Novosti, Tatyana Kalmykova. The United States has never discussed Israel plans annexing West Bank settlements of the Jordan river, told RIA Novosti the representative of the White house Josh Raffel.
“Allegations that the US has discussed with Israel plans annexing West Bank settlements of the Jordan river are false. USA and Israel never discussed such a proposal, and the attention of the President (USA Donald trump) focused exclusively on peaceful Palestinian-Israeli initiative,” — said the representative of the US administration.
Clarification was required after the words of the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting with parliamentarians from the ruling party “Likud” were to be interpreted as the position of the Prime Minister in support of the annexation and the willingness of the us administration to discuss this option with the Israelis.
Unlike East Jerusalem or the Golan heights, the West Bank, even from the point of view of Israeli law, is not part of the Jewish state. International law treats it as one of the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Palestinians hope to include the entire West Bank part of their own state. The Israelis, citing the changing demographic realities and security considerations, prove the impossibility of restoring “pre-war” 1967 borders and insist on keeping under its control the major Jewish settlements in any scenario settlement.