Israeli minister: West Bank 'will be under Israeli control forever'

Israeli housing minister, Uri Ariel, has said that the West Bank will be under Israeli control forever.

Ariel was addressing settlers near the Shilafim settlement in the occupied West Bank. “All the area located to the west of the Jordan River is owned by Israel and it will continue to be under Israeli control forever,” he said.

The remarks came as Palestinian-Israeli peace talk meetings continued and Palestinian Authority officials expected Israel to offer some concessions on land and settlement issues.

Previously, former chief of the Israeli Shin Bet, had said that he did not believe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, intentions for a two-state solution.

Analysts said that such remarks proved that Israel’s leaders were not interested in the peace process and that they were only buying time to ‘Judaise’ more lands in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.