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A White House official has reiterated Donald Trump’s opposition towards Israel annexing the West Bank, after Israeli plans were announced that would pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The measures, announced on Sunday, included allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power. It was unclear when the new rules, approved by Israel’s security cabinet, would take effect but they do not require further approval.
As regional states and others condemned the plan, a White House official on Monday said that “a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.”
More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Around three million Palestinians live there.
Earlier, the UK called on Israel to reverse its decision, saying: “The UK strongly condemns the Israeli security cabinet’s decision yesterday to expand Israeli control over the West Bank.
“Any unilateral attempt to alter the geographic or demographic make-up of Palestine is wholly unacceptable and would be inconsistent with international law. We call on Israel to reverse these decisions immediately,” the statement added.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is scheduled to meet Trump in the US on Wednesday.
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said he was “gravely concerned” by the changes, and warned they were “eroding the prospects for the two-state solution”, his spokesperson said in a statement.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state but is regarded by many on the religious right as Israeli land.
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Sunday that the changes were aimed at “deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state”.
Guterres called Israel’s actions “destabilising” and pointed to an international court of justice finding that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory was illegal.
A Saudi statement, which included the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey, “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty”.
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, and Smotrich issued a joint statement explaining the decisions of the five-member security cabinet, which were not published in full.
The security cabinet decided to repeal a law dating from Jordan’s control of the West Bank before 1967 to make land registries public rather than confidential, and to remove a requirement for a permit from a civil administration office.
They said these moves would make it easier for Jews to purchase land in the West Bank.
The Israeli measures also envisage transferring authority over building permits for settlements in the Palestinian city of Hebron – the West Bank’s largest – from the Palestinian Authority to Israel.
In addition, the reform increases Israeli control over two major religious sites in the southern West Bank: Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah, which exercises limited control over some areas of the West Bank, said the move was aimed at “deepening attempts to annex the occupied West Bank”.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
