On Sunday, Palestinian Authority (PA) senior figures warned of a parade of horribles if Israel annexes parts of Judea and Samaria.
By David Isaac, World Israel News
Palestinian Authority (PA) senior figures warned of a parade of horribles if Israel annexes parts of Judea and Samaria.
On Sunday, Palestinian Liberation Organization Secretary General Saeb Erekat said the move would bring a “cycle of violence and chaos” while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
“We heard Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking openly about his intentions to separate the West Bank and Gaza Strip and about annexing the West Bank,” Erekat said according to Israel’s Channel 13. “The international community cannot treat Israel as a state that is above the law,” he said.
Earlier comments by Erekat on April 6 were tweeted by the PLO’s official Twitter account. He said, “Such a statement by Netanyahu is not surprising. Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity.”
PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, also at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, said that his organization would “resist” any such attempt at annexation.
“If Netanyahu wants to declare Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, then you know he has to face a real problem, the presence of 4.5 million Palestinians, what to do with them,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
“We will stay there,” Maliki said. “The international community has to deal with us.”
Maliki also said that Netanyahu made his comments in light of the coming Israeli election. Netanyahu is facing stiff competition for votes from parties to his political right.
In remarks to Israeli television on Saturday, Netanyahu said he will begin annexing Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria if he is re-elected to a fifth term. Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, is the historical heartland of the Jewish people and home to some half million Jews.
Netanyahu appeared to reject the prospect of Palestinian statehood, saying it would “endanger [Israel’s] existence,” the Times of Israel reported.
Netanyahu said that he would extend Israeli security control to isolated Jewish towns and villages, and not just the large blocs of Jewish communities within Judea and Samaria. The latter position is endorsed even by center-left parties in Israel.