Palestinian leaders to Israel: Don’t you dare annex Judea and Samaria

Progressive Jewish organizations are also warning Israel not to annex Judea and Samaria.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and formal rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz joining hands, it is expected that Israel will move forward in its plans to annex Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian leaders warned Israel on Monday to not dare make such a move.

“Do not think that because of the coronavirus we have forgotten about the annexation, Netanyahu’s measures, or the ‘Deal of the Century,’” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said, as cited by Middle East Monitor.

“We continue to seek an end to the occupation and establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he added.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said annexation would “dismember” the Palestinian people and would put an end to a two-state solution, reported International Middle East Media Center.

Quds Net News reported that PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat is in talks with the international community to preserve the two-state solution.

“A government coalition based on a commitment to annex more occupied Palestinian territory is a threat to a rules-based world order in general, but to peace, security, and stability in the Middle East,” Erekat said, according to the Jerusalem-based Arabic news outlet.

“It is an international responsibility to hold the new Israeli government accountable and to demand full implementation of its obligations under international law and signed agreements,” he said.

Not only are Palestinian leaders condemning Israel’s annexation plans, but so are progressive Jewish organizations.

“It would be disastrous for Israel’s interests as well as a gross violation of Palestinian rights,” a Sunday statement by J Street read.

The statement also said that it would do everything in its power to prevent the U.S. from assisting Israel in its “intention of preventing the creation of an independent Palestinian state.”

Israel Policy Forum, which promotes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, released a statement on Sunday, saying, “We hope that the new Israeli government closely examines the potential consequences of unilateral annexation and the deleterious impact it will have on Israeli security and diplomacy.”