UK condemns Israeli minister's comments proposing West Bank annexation

'Annexation only undermines prospects for peace, would lead to greater instability and would be illegal under international law,' says UK’s minister for Middle East

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Britain on Thursday condemned recent statements by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposing annexation of the occupied West Bank.

"I condemn (Israeli Finance) Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich’s comments proposing annexation of land in the West Bank," Hamish Falconer, the UK's minister for the Middle East and North Africa, wrote on x.

On Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that 2025 will mark the year of applying Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, thus ending “the threat” of a Palestinian state.

"Annexation only undermines the prospects for peace, would lead to greater instability and would be illegal under international law," Falconer warned.

He urged Israeli government to reject this.

Smotrich's call to annex the occupied West Bank has also drawn a wave of condemnations across the Arab world.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Israeli settlement-building activity there illegal.

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark opinion that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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