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israeli’s Parliament has given preliminary approval to the bill implementing Israel’s full sovereignty west coastTo effectively formalize its contract.
The policy, opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was passed by a vote of 24 to 25 among 120 lawmakers. Many Knesset members either abstained or refused to come for the vote.
US Vice President JD Vance – who is in Israel this week to try and advance Donald Trump’s fragile ceasefire – criticized the move on Thursday.
Terming it a “stupid political stunt”, he described the move as a “disgrace” which goes against the policies of the Trump administration.
What will happen to the bill now?
Wednesday’s vote was the first of four needed to pass the law, which will now go to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further deliberations. A second bill proposing annexation of the Maale Adumim settlement passed 31-9.
A Knesset statement said the annexation bill was approved in preliminary reading “to implement the sovereignty of the State of Israel in the territories of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)”, reflecting the use of Biblical words used in the bill. It later stressed that it was only a “preliminary study” and would not proceed without Israeli government support.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “the vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord”.
Israeli politicians, including far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, had previously threatened to annex the West Bank in response to Western states’ promises to recognize Palestinian statehood.
The West Bank would form a significant part of that state and would be largely blocked by annexation. Netanyahu backed down on this after US President Donald Trump’s objection.
illegality of existing settlements
Annexation, defined as the taking of land by force and without permission, is generally illegal under international law.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“The ICJ has confirmed that Israel’s policies and practices in the West Bank already constitute de facto annexation,” says Pete Wetherby KC, a barrister specializing in international criminal and humanitarian law and international human rights law at Garden Court North Chambers.
“It confirms that Israel’s continued presence in the OPT is illegal and a wrongful act, which deprives the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination.”
It further found that Israel’s policies and practices toward Palestinians in the West Bank violate Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which deals with two particularly serious forms of racial discrimination: segregation and apartheid, he reported. Independent.
In September 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting this opinion.
Mr Weatherby said, “Israel has a clear obligation to immediately cease all settlement activities in the West Bank and end its ongoing occupation.” “Instead, this latest bill in the Knesset reflects our intention to formally establish these ongoing serious violations of international law in the West Bank.”
There are more than 250 settlements spread across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, home to between 600,000 and 750,000 residents.
Despite disagreement from the international community, including the United Nations and Britain, Israel argues that the areas it captured in the 1967 war are not legally occupied because they are on disputed land.
international response
The Israeli parliament’s vote drew widespread condemnation, with more than a dozen countries, including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, issuing a joint statement condemning the vote, calling all Israeli settlements in the West Bank a violation of international law.
Speaking on the tarmac of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport before departing Israel, Vance said that if the Knesset vote was a “political stunt, it is a very stupid political stunt.”
“I personally take some offense to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be occupied by Israel.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also clarified that annexation was “not something we would support”. “We think this is also a threat to the peace agreement,” he said.
The move has also been condemned by Jordan, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry and Hamas.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said about the possibility of annexation last month: “We have been clear, and I have been clear with the Israeli Foreign Minister, we have been clear with the Israeli government that they should not do this. We have been clear that the decision we have made is the best way to protect Israel as well as Israel’s security.” Palestinians,
ground reality
Reiterating the ICJ’s decision, Palestinians say the expansion of settlements means the legislation passed will make little difference to the dire situation on the ground.
“It’s about formalizing what’s going on on the ground,” says Issa Amro, a West Bank activist who appeared in Louis Theroux’s acclaimed BBC documentary. Settlers.
Peace Now, an Israeli organization, called 2024 “the year of annexation and expulsion”, citing settlement expansion as “the biggest obstacle to peace” in a report published in February 2025.
It outlined that 24,258 dunams (one dunam = 1,000 square meters) of land were declared “state land” for Israel. This represents more than half of the total land declared as state land since the Oslo Accords thirty years ago.
“The demolition of homes is at an all-time high. There is no accountability. Palestinians live under martial law, while Israelis live under civil law. They took away the rights from the Ibrahimi Mosque and put it under the control of settlers. The annexation has happened, it is formalizing it.”