2025-10-23 16:35
publication
2025-10-23 16:35
US President Donald Trump has stated that Israel will not annex the West Bank and if it did, it would lose all US support. On Wednesday, the Israeli parliament adopted a preliminary draft of the annexation bill. US Vice President J.D. Vance, who was visiting Israel, commented on this as a “very stupid” step.
– It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And that can't be done now. (…) This won't happen. If that happened, Israel would lose all U.S. support, Trump said when asked what the consequences would be of Israel annexing the occupied West Bank.
The president's statement was included in an interview with Time magazine conducted on October 15, which was made available on the magazine's website on Thursday.
The Israeli parliament on Wednesday voted to proceed with a draft law that would include Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank under Israeli law and establish them as “sovereign and inseparable” parts of the Israeli state.
The project still needs to be approved in three more votes. The chances of this happening are very small because the bill is not supported by the majority of the opposition and the Likud party, which is the core of the coalition, and is led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The government opposes this bill because it was a “political move by the opposition aimed at discrediting the government during Vice President Vance's visit,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar explained on Thursday.
“It was a very stupid political stunt and I am personally offended,” Vance said before departing Israel on Thursday. The vice president has been visiting this country since Tuesday.
The vote in the Knesset was also criticized by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday.
In the 1967 war, the West Bank, which then belonged to Jordan, was captured by Israel and is still occupied today. Since the 1990s, part of this territory has been co-administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Jewish settlements are rapidly developing in the West Bank, supported by the current government. Currently, approximately 3 million Palestinians and half a million Jews live in this area.
The UN and most countries in the world consider Jewish settlements in the West Bank illegal. Palestinians view the development of settlements as an attempt at de facto annexation and an obstacle to the construction of a future independent Palestinian state.
Trump said in late September that he opposed Israel annexing the West Bank or parts of it. According to media reports, the US president's clear declaration was a condition for Arab countries to support his peace plan for the Gaza Strip. These countries, like the UN and European countries, oppose possible annexation.
In Wednesday's statement, Likud stressed that the Israeli government is strengthening the settlements every day with concrete actions, not words. It added that sovereignty over the West Bank would be achieved not by “boisterous declarations, but by honest work on the ground and the creation of political conditions.”
Jerzy Adamiak (PAP)
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