Israel to consult US before Jerusalem al-Quds annexation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will talk to the United States before moving ahead with a controversial bill to annex settlements built on the Palestinian land in  Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israel delayed a ministerial vote on the proposed bill on Sunday without explanation but an official told the daily Haaretz that the bill's current version "invites international pressure and involves difficult legal issues."   

“We are in touch with the Americans,” Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting, explaining that the US administration had asked Israel for clarifications about the so-called “Greater Jerusalem bill.”

“The Americans turned to us and inquired what the bill was about. As we have been coordinating with them until now, it is worth talking and coordinating with them. We are working to promote and develop the settlement enterprise,” he said.

If passed, the legislation would annex all the Palestinian territories in the three major mega-settlements of Maale Adumim, Givat Zeev and Gush Etzion, which together house around 150,000 Israelis.

It would add the Israelis who live there to the population of Jerusalem al-Quds, making them “sub-municipalities” of the occupied city and downgrading the status of three Arab neighborhoods beyond Israel’s separation wall.

Israel's Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said the vote on the bill must take place, adding it aimed to “safeguard the Jewish majority in the capital and strengthen our hold on the city.”

"Guaranteeing the Jewish majority in Jerusalem (al-Quds) is a historic mission and we should all work together to fulfill it," Katz said.

Israel lays claim to the entire city of Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. The regime is expanding settlements on the parts of the city which the Palestinians want to make the capital of their future independent state.

The highly provocative plan, if implemented, would significantly change Jerusalem al-Quds' official demographic balance, making it a more "Judaized" city.

Israel also deems the occupied West Bank as “liberated land,” saying its formal annexation is only a matter of time.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal, because the territories they are built on were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

Under Netanyahu, Israel has stepped up the settlement expansion in the face of tepid international reaction. The election of US President Donald Trump prompted Tel Aviv to unveil a massive settlement plan which it had put on hold for years.

On Thursday, the US State Department said it was not worried by the new annexation bill because it was a long way from being approved by the Knesset.

Washington is “discouraging actions that it believes will unduly distract the principals from focusing on the advancement of peace negotiations,” an unnamed US official was quoted as saying. 

Peace Now, an anti-settlement Israeli NGO, also urged Trump to oppose the bill.

“If President Trump now allows the annexation of settlements, he will condemn Israelis and Palestinians to perpetual conflict and bloodshed, and become a partner in turning Israel into an international pariah,” it said.

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