Abbas warns US and Israel against annexation 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned the US administration and Israeli government on Monday against their plans to annex any part of the occupied West Bank, Anadolu has reported.

“Despite our preoccupation [with the virus], we also have politics,” Abbas told his ministers during an online meeting in Ramallah. “Do not think that because of the coronavirus we have forgotten about the annexation, Netanyahu’s measures or the ‘deal of the century’. We continue to seek an end to the occupation and establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Abbas added that as soon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes an announcement about the annexation of Palestinian land, the PA will take appropriate measures.

On Monday evening, Israeli media reported that both Netanyahu and the leader of the centrist Blue and White party, Benny Gantz, had signed a deal to form a coalition government. As part of the deal, Gantz has apparently agreed not to veto the annexation plan or push for a cabinet or Knesset vote on it.

READ: EU warns Gantz not to accept annexation of West Bank settlements