'Stupid political stunt': US brands Israel's plan to annex West Bank an 'insult' after controversial vote
Top US officials blasted the move ahead of a visit to Israel this week - warning it threatens to undermine Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan.
The US’ Vice President and Secretary of State have both urged Israel not to annex the West Bank after the Israeli parliament controversially voted to do so.
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JD Vance and Marco Rubio slammed Wednesday's Knesset’s vote, which saw Israel’s far-right politicians give preliminary approval to a bill applying Israeli law in the West Bank.
Mr Vance branded the move - which is illegal under international law - as a "very stupid political stunt".
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy,” Mr Vance said.
Meanwhile, Mr Rubio said ahead of his trip to Israel it threatens to undermine Mr Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza.
Read more: Two Labour MPs ‘denied entry’ to Israel during West Bank visit
“They’re a democracy, they’re going to have their votes, and people are going to take these positions,” he said.
Mr Rubio added: “But at this time, it’s something that we … think might be counterproductive.”
President Trump has said it “won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries”.
“Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened,” he told Time Magazine.
For years, Israelis have repeatedly amassed an increasing number of illegal settlements in the West Bank - a Palestinian territory under international law.
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank began in 1967 and has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice.
It is viewed as a key part of the Palestinian state - which Western leaders recognised last month in a bid to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza.
However, Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out Palestinian statehood, with his government presiding over an acceleration of settlement-building in the territory.
Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians have also become commonplace and have been on the rise since October 7.
Since Hamas’ attack and Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza, Israeli forces have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.
Nearly 1,000 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in the same period.
The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
According to figures from the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA), some 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the year, including about 40 children.
Around 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.