The secretary-general accused Israel of “exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the novel coronavirus to impose a new reality on the ground.”
By David Isaac, World Israel News
The Arab League will hold a virtual meeting to discuss how to organize opposition to Israel’s plan to annex large swathes of Judea and Samaria, it announced on Monday.
The meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday, will be carried out by video conference and include the participation of Arab foreign ministers from across the Middle East.
The ministers will “discuss in their virtual meeting providing political, legal and financial support to the Palestinian leadership to confront the Israeli plans,” the Arab League’s deputy secretary Hossam Zaki said.
The meeting was called at the request of the Palestinian Authority.
Last week, the Arab League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that Israel’s plans risked “igniting tension in the region.”
He accused Israel of “exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the novel coronavirus to impose a new reality on the ground.”
The Arab League’s announcement comes on the heels of the formation of a unity government in Israel between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
The deal opens the way for Israel to bring forward annexation plans in the Knesset as early as June 1. Israel’s opportunity for annexation comes in the context of Trump’s Mideast peace plan.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the annexation of Judea and Samaria was up to Israel. “Israelis will ultimately make those decisions,” he said.
Netanyahu said in a special broadcast on Sunday that in “a couple of months,” Israel will establish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
“Three months ago, the Trump peace plan recognized Israel’s rights in all Judea and Samaria and President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities there and in the Jordan Valley,” Netanyahu said.
“A couple of months from now, I’m confident that that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism,” he said.
Israel gained control of Judea and Samaria in the 1967 Six-Day War, a conflict in which the Jewish State carried out a preemptive strike on four Arab nations posed to invade.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews live in Judea and Samaria, in addition to another 200,000 Israelis who live in eastern portions of Jerusalem.