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Likud politicians file Knesset bill to annex West Bank settlements

A view of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Efraim on the hills of the Jordan Valley. (Photo by AP)

Mona Kandil
Press TV, Ramallah

Head of Israel’s Likud party in the Knesset, Miki Zohar, has submitted two bills for approval by lawmakers, one of which calls for the annexation of the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and the Hebron desert in the occupied West Bank. The other bill seeks to reintroduce the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Amid a cabinet-formation crisis, observers believe these measures show the Likud party is trying to win public support and render itself as the stronger party at the expense of Palestinian rights.

The Palestinian Authority has slammed the move and called on the international community to prevent the Israeli attempts to annex territories of the occupied West Bank before it is too late.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the approval of the bill means the actual implementation of the so-called "deal of the century" presented by US president Donald Trump.

The bill calling for the reintroduction of death penalty for Palestinian prisoners was first submitted in December 2017 by Avigdor Lieberman – who then served as the military affairs minister. The bill, however, did not go through the Knesset.

Whether it’s an internal Israeli conspiracy or not, Palestinians warn that all Israeli parties will work to annex Jordan valley and the West Bank settlements especially after the American administration’s green light to the annexation.


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