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Palestinian FM warns of ‘legal and diplomatic’ action if Israel annexes parts of Judea and Samaria

Malki says the PA has gained international support for action it would take to counter an Israeli annexation.

By World Israel News Staff 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is preparing to take “legal and diplomatic” action if Israel annexes parts of Judea and Samaria, PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki said on Thursday in an interview with the Xinhua news agency.

“With God’s help we will apply Jewish sovereignty over all communities [in Judea and Samaria] as part of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 1, in the lead-up to the Knesset election which took place later in the month.

Malki refused to dismiss the Israeli prime minister’s pledge as just electioneering.

“What Netanyahu said is not only related to the elections campaign, but springs from a clear ideological and political vision he has, and he was waiting for a suitable time to come out with such statements and has…the boundless support [of] the U.S. administration,” said the foreign minister to Xinhua.

Malki maintains that the PA has gained international support for action it would take to counter an Israeli annexation.

According to the news agency, Malki said that a plan has been adopted by the PA leadership, though he did not elaborate, saying only that the self-rule authority would move ahead with its plan “the minute it sees clear indicators that any forthcoming Israeli government would carry [out] such a move.”

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A week before the September 17 election, Netanyahu announced his intention to “immediately” extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area should he be re-elected to a fifth consecutive term as Israel’s leader.

Right and left-wing Israeli governments have considered control by the Jewish State over the Jordan Valley as an essential security component of any peace agreement with the Palestinians.