Netanyahu: I’m confident annexation will happen in a couple of months

Netanyahu spoke in a video message at an online conference of the European Coalition for Israel (ECI) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Conference.

By LAHAV HARKOV
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu walks out of a military helicopter, as he visits an old army outpost overlooking the Jordan Valley last year. (photo credit: ABIR SULTAN / REUTERS)
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu walks out of a military helicopter, as he visits an old army outpost overlooking the Jordan Valley last year.
(photo credit: ABIR SULTAN / REUTERS)
Israel will be able to apply its laws to the West Bank in a couple of months following a pledge from US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, at an online conference of pro-Israel Christians marking the centennial of the San Remo Conference that recognized Jews' right to self-determination in their historic homeland.
“Three months ago, the Trump peace plan recognized Israel’s rights in all of Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said. “President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities there and in the Jordan Valley. In a couple of months from now, I’m confident that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism.”
The Trump peace plan would allow Israel to annex 30% of the West Bank, including all settlements and the entire Jordan Valley, while providing the Palestinians with a massive economic-aid package to support their establishing a demilitarized state, if they meet certain conditions, including stopping incitement, payments to terrorists and instituting civil rights.
The coalition agreement between Likud and Blue and White, signed last week, states that annexation can be brought to a vote in the cabinet or Knesset on July 1 at the earliest.
 The Palestinian Authority and Jordan have been on a diplomatic blitz in recent weeks, lobbying the international community to condemn the possible annexation. France threatened at the UN Security Council on Thursday that such a move "would not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel." Other EU states, such as Germany, Estonia and Belgium, made statements against annexation at the UNSC, as did the UK. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said that "any annexation would constitute a serious violation of international law.”
Netanyahu spoke in a video message at an online conference of the European Coalition for Israel (ECI) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Conference, in which the Allied powers in World War I divided up territory that had been part of the Ottoman Empire.
“A century after San Remo, the promise of Zionism is being realized, because we never stopped fighting for our rights, and your efforts are part of that fight,” he said to his mostly Christian audience.
Great Britain was given the mandate for Palestine during the San Remo conference, incorporating the Balfour Declaration supporting "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” into the Treaty of Peace with Turkey. This made the Balfour Declaration into law, making that one of the goals of the British Mandate for Palestine.
Netanyahu called the San Remo Conference “a chance to celebrate a seminal moment in the history of Zionism,” in which “the victorious allied powers of World War I recognized the Jewish people's right of self-determination.”
The world powers recognized a “fundamental truth,” the prime minister said. “The Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in the land of our forefathers. The land of Israel is our ancestral homeland.”
David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel tweeted about the centennial, saying: "Recalling today the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Resolution, whereby the world powers recognized the ancient connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and the right of the Jewish people to a national home on that land was given the force of International Law."
The European Coalition for Israel is a Christian pro-Israel lobbying group that promotes improved ties between Israel and the EU, fights antisemitism and supports peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs.."