West Bank Annexation

Foreign Ministry denies annulment of Hebron Agreement, contradicting Smotrich's announcement

Under the 1997 Hebron Agreement, the Hebron Municipality oversaw planning and construction across the city, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the adjoining Ibrahimi Mosque.

JUNE 16, 2026|ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAM

The Ibrahimi mosque or the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in the West Bank city of Hebron, July 3, 2024.

FORMER OTZMA YEHUDIT chair Michael Ben-Ari (left) and Zehut party leader Moshe Feiglin (right) agree to run in a joint list ahead of elections, Wednesday, May 7, 2026.

Zehut party leader to run in elections on joint list with ex-Otzma Yehudit chair

The party said the alliance was born out of the understanding that the faith-based nationalist public in Israel currently "needs a strong political home."

MAY 7, 2026|ByKESHET NEEV

FINANCE MINISTER Bezalel Smotrich holds a press conference ahead of the vote on the state budget at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, March 29, 2026.

Smotrich: US supports Israeli West Bank settlement expansion - interview

In past efforts by Israel to expand control in the West Bank, the US has called for maintaining stability in the area, adding that US President Donald Trump has not backed total annexation.

APRIL 22, 2026|ByKESHET NEEV

The IDF detained a group of CNN journalists in the West Bank on Friday, as shown by footage from the US-based news outlet. March 28, 2026.

IDF Chief of Staff suspends battalion that accosted CNN news team in West Bank

The battalion’s operational deployment will be suspended until it has undergone “a process aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations,” the IDF wrote.

MARCH 30, 2026|ByDANYA SAPERSTEIN

Donald Trump offered Israel's West Bank to Jordan's King Abdullah in 2018 - report

It was not mentioned whether Israel and then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had any knowledge of Trump's proposal.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

Trump letter authorized Israeli sovereignty in West Bank - exclusive

Trump gave Netanyahu the green light to annex as long as he accepted a future Palestinian state, in contrast with the description in Kushner's book.

AUGUST 14, 2022ByLAHAV HARKOV

US President Donald Trump meets with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in March.

Does Israel's Netanyahu have a Donald Trump problem?

DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS: With Kushner’s new book portraying the Netanyahu-Trump relationship as not as rosy as it once had seemed, the former US president may no longer be an asset to the Likud campaign.

AUGUST 5, 2022ByLAHAV HARKOV

JARED KUSHNER appears in the White House with then-US president Donald Trump and then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019.

Netanyahu denies surprising Trump, Kushner with Israeli annexation bid

Netanyahu, however, said that he and Trump exchanged letters on the day before the ceremony unveiling the Trump peace plan.

AUGUST 4, 2022ByLAHAV HARKOV

THEN-PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the annual Jewish Agency Board of Governors meeting in Jerusalem, in 2019.

Settlers fear Biden visit may strengthen Palestinian hold on Area C

The Palestinians believe that all of Area C, where the Israeli settlements are located, must be part of the final borders of their state.

JULY 11, 2022ByTOVAH LAZAROFF

People gather as Israeli machineries demolish a Palestinian house in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank July 4, 2022.

Court backs settler evacuation on Homesh, upholds Palestinian rights

The court didn’t directly order the evacuation, but it accepted the state’s declaration of intent to evacuate the small illegallybuilt modular seminary.

JUNE 2, 2022ByTOVAH LAZAROFF

Israeli soldiers block the entrance to Homesh, in the West Bank, on May 28, 2022.

Senior religious-Zionist, settler leader Rabbi Eliezer Waldman dies at 84

Waldman was one of the founders of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, founder of Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba and one of the founders of the Gush Emunim settlement movement in 1974.

DECEMBER 19, 2021ByJEREMY SHARON

Behind scenes of Abraham Accords: Israeli annexation halted day before deadline

Israeli annexation of West Bank settlements was scuttled within 24-hours of its July 1 deadline in 2020, Barak Ravid revealed in his new book interviewing Donald Trump.

DECEMBER 13, 2021ByTOVAH LAZAROFF