Smotrich threatens Netanyahu with dismantling Palestinian Authority if West Bank annexation stalls

Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with moves to dismantle the Palestinian Authority if Israel does not impose sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s Channel 12 quoted Smotrich as telling Netanyahu: “I will work to bring down the Palestinian Authority if sovereignty is not applied to the West Bank.”

Earlier, Smotrich unveiled a proposal to annex around 82 per cent of the West Bank. The plan is based on detailed maps prepared in recent months by the settlement directorate of Israel’s Ministry of Defence, highlighting targeted areas and mechanisms for implementing the project.

Smotrich represents one of the most extreme right-wing currents in Israel. He has previously called for “erasing entire Palestinian towns from the map” and argued that the Palestinian people “do not exist, or should not exist.” 

His latest plan is seen as the clearest indication yet of the growing push within Netanyahu’s far-right government to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, using the move by some Western countries towards recognising a Palestinian state as justification for accelerating annexation.

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