Netanyahu pulls annexation bill ahead of vote

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked a draft bill intended to annex illegal West Bank settlements from coming to vote at a Sunday committee meeting, reported the Times of Israel.

The legislation, co-drafted by Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), “seeks to apply Israeli sovereignty over all areas of Jewish settlement in the West Bank”.

The bill was due to come before the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, but a spokesperson told the paper that Netanyahu “wants to coordinate the measure with the White House first”. Instead, the bill will be “debated by coalition leaders in their own meeting”.

The legislation states: “In the 70th year of the rebirth of the State of Israel and after the 50th anniversary of the return of the Jewish people to its historic homeland in Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank]…we move to designate the status of these territories as an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel.”

Read: Israel politicians urge annexation of West Bank settlements

On 31 December 2017, the Likud Central Committee unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the annexation of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

According to the the Times of Israel: “Netanyahu’s decision to delay the legislation is likely to cause a rift with various government ministers as well as settler leaders who have been aggressively campaigning for such a proposal [annexation].”

The paper cites a letter signed by 18 settler leaders, calling on Netanyahu to advance the law.

“We recognise your historic opportunity to lead this important step, and ask that you allow the bill to be discussed and approved at the upcoming Ministerial Committee for Legislation meeting,” the letter stated.

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

Despite Netanyahu’s decision to stop the law coming up for a vote, settler leaders are “confident” reports the paper.

“Now more than ever, the conditions are ripe to apply sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley,” Yesha Director-General Shiloh Adler told the Times of Israel.

Some, however, are losing patience.

“I feel that we are at a point in time when it is clear to all the ministers in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation that this proposal has to be passed,” said Jewish Home lawmaker Shuli Mualem-Refaeli this week.

“In the next six months, this is our main task,” she added. “Otherwise, I’m not sure we have a reason to remain in this government.”