US warns Israel of annexation crisis
Lieberman cautions against takeover of the West Bank
JERUSALEM // Israel’s defence minister said yesterday that the US had warned that the annexation of the occupied West Bank would lead to an “immediate crisis” with Donald Trump’s administration.
Avigdor Lieberman, a hardliner, was speaking to push back against other far- right ministers in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition who have called for a declaration of Israeli sovereignty over all or part of the Palestinian territory.
About 2.6 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967.
Speaking before his first trip to Washington since Mr Trump took office, Mr Lieberman said annexation would provoke a crisis with Washington and result in steep costs for the Israeli government, as it would be required to provide services to Palestinians in the West Bank.
“We have received a very clear, direct message from the United States stating that the application of Israeli law in the West Bank would provoke an imme- diate crisis with the new administration,” Mr Lieberman told a parliamentary committee.
His office said he was expected to leave Israel last night for Washington, where he would meet US vice president Mike Pence, defence secretary Jim Mattis, secretary of state Rex Tillerson “and hold other meetings”.
The latest call for annexation came on Sunday, when Israeli MP Miki Zohar, from Mr Net- anyahu’s Likud party, said “the two-state solution is dead”.
Mr Zohar advocated a single state but said that Palestinians in the West Bank should not be allowed to vote in Israeli parliamentary elections. Others have made similar calls, including education minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the religious nationalist Jewish Home party.
Mr Bennett advocates annexing most of the West Bank, and has said he hopes support from Mr Trump’s presidency will spell the end of the idea of a Palestinian state.
In his comments yesterday, Mr Lieberman also laid out an economic argument against annexation, saying Israel immediately “will be required to spend 20 billion shekels [Dh20bn]” on various social services. The defence minister, who leads the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu party, advocates a two-state solution based on territorial and population exchanges.
Mr Netanyahu said he still supported a two-state solution, although he had also pushed for settlement expansion in the West Bank, measures considered illegal under international law.
He has found himself seeking to hold together his governing coalition – viewed as the most right- wing in Israeli history – while managing international relations.
Some Israeli politicians have pushed for the immediate annexation of Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement of about 37,000 people which is to the east of Jerusalem.
However, a bill to annex the settlement has been postponed indefinitely by the cabinet.