PA slams Israel’s plans to annex West Bank, saying 2025 will be year Palestine is established

Spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, slammed Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for claiming he has called for processes to be put in place to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank next year.

Abu Rudeineh said Smotrich’s remarks reveal Israel’s plans to “complete its control over the West Bank by 2025,” and adds to its escalating crimes against the Palestinians there as well as in East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Abu Rudeineh added that the remarks openly defy a UN General Assembly resolution for implementing an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling.

He held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the repercussions of their dangerous policies which lead to regional instability.

Defying the Israeli minister, Abu Rudeineh stressed that 2025 will “be the year of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state” on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, without which peace and stability will not be achieved.

READ: Trump advisers warn Israel ministers not to assume West Bank annexation support

Earlier yesterday, Smotrich said he had instructed Israel’s Settlement Division and Civil Administration to initiate the groundwork for infrastructure to apply Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank in 2025.

Congratulated Donald Trump on his US presidential election victory, Smotrich said: “During his first term, Trump led significant moves, including relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, acknowledging Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and legitimising settlements in Judea and Samaria,” in reference to the West Bank.

“We were a step away from applying sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said. “Now is the time to do it.”

Israel gets ready to annex occupied West Bank in 2025

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has pledged to annex the occupied West Bank by 2025. He announced plans to coordinate with the incoming US administration of Donald Trump and the international community to secure… pic.twitter.com/UlbCAo4VsZ

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) November 12, 2024