Israeli Knesset votes by overwhelming majority to annex occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley
The Israeli Knesset (parliament) voted Wednesday for a non-binding motion for the agenda to annex the occupied West Bank including the Jordan Valley.
The motion was backed by 71 members of the 120-seat assembly against 13 votes, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.
According to the newspaper, the proposal is not legally or legislatively binding but rather “a declaration by the Knesset.”
The Kahol Lavan and Yesh Atid parties abstained from voting.
The draft resolution claimed the occupied West Bank are “an integral part of the historical, cultural, and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people,” and that major Palestinian cities such as Hebron and Nablus, and the illegal settlements of Shiloh and Beit El, express “the historical continuity of the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel”.
The resolution claimed the 7 October cross-border attack demonstrated that the establishment of a Palestinian state “would pose an existential threat to Israel and undermine regional stability”.
READ: Hamas condemns Israeli Knesset vote backing West Bank’s annexation
The Knesset reiterated its decision that the idea of a Palestinian state “has been removed from the agenda”.
The Knesset called on the Israeli government to “immediately extend Israeli sovereignty—Israeli law, justice, and administration—to all areas of Jewish settlement” in their various forms in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley in order to strengthen the State of Israel and its security and prevent any undermining of the Jewish people fundamental right to peace and security in their homeland”.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East War.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the occupied territory by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.