Palestinian laborers work at the site of a new housing project in the Jewish West Bank Jewish Settlement of Beit el, Monday, November 11, 2024 (AP Photo)
AP NEWS | Published November 13, 2024
BEIT EL, West Bank (AP) — As Donald Trump’s victory became apparent in last week’s U.S. elections, Jewish West Bank settlement advocates popped bottles of champagne and danced to the Bee Gees at a winery in the heart of the occupied territory, according to a post on Instagram. The winery said it was rolling out a special edition red named for the president-elect.
Settlement supporters believe they have plenty of reasons to celebrate. Not only did the expansion of housing for Jews in the West Bank soar past previous records during Trump’s first term, but his administration took unprecedented steps to support Israel’s territorial claims, including recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there, and recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.
This time around, as Israel is embroiled in a multifront war, settlement advocates believe Trump’s history of fervent support could translate into their supreme goal: Israeli annexation of the West Bank — a move that critics say would smother any remaining hopes for Palestinian statehood. Some are even gunning for resettling Gaza under a Trump administration.
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SOURCE: www.apnews.com
RELATED: Ex-Trump aides warn Israeli ministers not to assume he’ll back annexation in 2nd term
Cabinet members told support for controversial move could hamper other US foreign policy goals, would only happen as part of peace plan like the one in 2020 that far-right opposed
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, center, and then-tourism minister Yariv Levin during a meeting to discuss mapping extension of Israeli sovereignty to areas of the West Bank, held in the Ariel settlement, February 24, 2020. (David Azagury/ US Embassy Jerusalem/ File)
Published November 13, 2024
At least two officials in Donald Trump’s previous administration have warned senior Israeli ministers not to assume that the president-elect will support Israel annexing the West Bank in his second term, three sources familiar with the conversations told The Times of Israel.
Though the message was delivered in separate meetings and conversations held in the months leading up to Trump’s presidential election victory last week, far-right cabinet members did not seem deterred. On Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that 2025 would be “the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank],” thanks to Trump’s return to office, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir last week said that “this is the time for sovereignty.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel’s next ambassador to the US will be Yechiel Leiter, a former settler leader who has advocated for annexing large parts of the West Bank and against the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In their recent meetings with several senior Israeli ministers, Trump’s former advisers did not rule out the possibility of the president-elect backing the move, but asserted that it should not be treated as a “foregone conclusion,” one Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The controversial move would face severe pushback from US allies in the Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which Trump could lean on in order to address more pressing foreign policy aims, such as combating Iranian aggression, competing against China, and ending the war in Ukraine, according to a second Israeli official who was privy to one of the conversations an ex-Trump aide held with a cabinet minister.
While Trump did present a peace plan in 2020 that envisioned Israel annexing all of its settlements, the proposal still allowed for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the remaining areas of the West Bank.
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