Abbas slams Likud decision to annex West Bank

Mahmoud Abbas has slammed Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Israeli Likud party which has called for the annexation of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Anadolu reported on Monday. The Palestinian Authority President said that the strategy of the Israeli government is based on eradicating the Palestinian presence and creating “Greater Israel” in historical Palestine.

“This [Likud] decision is viewed as harsh aggression against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites,” explained Abbas. “Israel could not have taken such a decision without the full support of the US Administration.” He called upon the international community to move immediately “to stop this aggression.”

Following the decision taken by the Likud Central Committee, the party asked its Knesset Members to work towards the imposition of Israeli law and sovereignty on all of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. This is what the party means by annexation. All of Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law.

Read: Israel’s ruling party calls for de-facto annexation of West Bank settlements

Settlement – Cartoon [Sarwar Ahmed/MiddleEastMonitor]