Palestine Leadership Warn of Trouble if Israel Annexes West Bank Settlements

April 8, 2019 (EIRNS)—Palestine’s officials are warning that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is able to go ahead with his vow, over the April 6-7 weekend, to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israel will have bigger problems than it has now.

“We heard Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking openly about his intentions to separate the West Bank and Gaza Strip and about annexing the West Bank,” Israel’s Channel 13 quoted PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat as saying at the World Economic Forum in Amman, reports the Jerusalem Post. “This will bring the area cycle of violence and chaos.”

In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Palestine Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said that Netanyahu would face a “real problem” if the West Bank were to be annexed. “If Netanyahu wants to declare Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, then you know [that] he will face a real problem, the presence of 4.5 million Palestinians, [and] what to do with them,” Maliki told AP. “He won’t be able to expel them.” He warned that Palestine would “resist” any attempt to apply such a policy onto the West Bank. Al-Maliki also accused the Trump Administration of facilitating such statements by Netanyahu by recognizing the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.