Netanyahu pledges US support for West Bank settlement annexation

"We didn't return here [Judea and Samaria] just to leave it," Netanyahu said during a campaign visit to the Mitzpe Yericho settlement in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Netanyhu on a campaign visit to Mitzpa Yericho (photo credit: MIRI SHIMONOVITZ)
Netanyhu on a campaign visit to Mitzpa Yericho
(photo credit: MIRI SHIMONOVITZ)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday pledged to secure United States support for the annexation of the Jordan Valley and other West Bank settlements.
“We didn’t return here [Judea and Samaria] just to leave it,” Netanyahu said during a campaign visit to the Mitzpe Yeriho settlement in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.
“The first thing we will do is to apply our sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and also in settlements, and we will do so with American recognition. We are strengthening the State of Israel and ensuring its future,” he said.
Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz told Netanyahu he hoped that sovereignty would have been applied by next year this time, so that they would be able to light a Hanukkah menorah at the ruins of the Hasmonean palaces near biblical Jericho.
It’s the second time Netanyahu has made such a pledge in less than a week. He spoke about US recognition for Jordan Valley annexation at the Makor Rishon Economic Society and Innovation Conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.
The two statements come as Netanyahu is fighting both for reelection and to maintain his position as the leader of the Likud Party against his rival Gideon Sa’ar. He has one of the weakest positions on annexation out of all the leading politicians in his party, speaking of it only during this last year of reelection campaigns. During the second round of elections, Netanyahu pledged to annex the Jordan Valley immediately after forming a government. On Sunday, he explained that the application of sovereignty “is impossible for a transitional government. For a future government, of whatever kind, it is possible,” he said.
It was a move considered impossible under the former Obama administration which had a no tolerance view of settlement activity.
US President Donald Trump’s supportive attitude toward Israeli settlements, including his administration’s declaration last month that such activity was legal under international law, has emboldened right-wing Israelis to believe that he would not object to such a move.
The Trump administration has not spoken of sovereignty or annexation. The State Department has denied reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about annexation plans when the two met in Lisbon earlier this month.
On Wednesday, a number of members of the Security Council said they rejected any Israeli attempts at annexation.
“Any suggestion that parts of the occupied Palestinian territories should be annexed is contrary to international law, damaging to peace efforts  and could not pass unchallenged,” its representative told the council.