The Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) approved this Wednesday in a preliminary reading with 25 votes in favor and 24 against a proposal to annex the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
“The bill to apply sovereignty to the territories of Judea and Samaria was approved in preliminary reading by a majority of 25 in favor and 24 against,” the Knesset detailed on its X channel.
This first step precedes three other votes that will be necessary in the Knesset to convert this bill into law, which reads: “the State of Israel will apply its laws and sovereignty to the settlement areas in Judea and Samaria, to establish the status of these areas as an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel.”
Deputy Avio Maoz, leader of the ultra Noam party, is the promoter of this law. During the parliamentary session he declared that “the Lord, blessed be He, gave the people of Israel the Land of Israel”; in reference to the 'Greater Israel' that erases the Palestinian territories from the map.
This preliminary vote coincides with the visit to Israel of US Vice President JD Vance, who has supervised the Gaza ceasefire plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior military officials.
“The time has come to apply full sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria (West Bank), the inheritance of our ancestors, and to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbors from a position of strength,” the Minister of Finance, the far-right and settler, Bezalel Smotrich, celebrated in X.
The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, also from the extreme right and a settler, has been quick to show his enthusiasm for this proposal: “The time for sovereignty has come now!”
In mid-September, both ministers already demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu annex the West Bank in response to the recognition of the Palestinian State by more than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Palestine does not have territorial continuity, and while the political branch of Hamas ruled in Gaza, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) remains in the West Bank, headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
In most of the West Bank – in the so-called Area C, which is equivalent to 60% of the territory – Israel has had both military and civilian control since the Oslo Accords.
In addition, there are hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints throughout the West Bank and a permit system that does not allow the free movement of Palestinians between cities, prohibiting many from entering Jerusalem (among other cities).