Israel’s parliament advances bill to annex occupied West Bank

Israel’s parliament has voted to give preliminary approval to a bill to impose Israeli sovereignty on the occupied West Bank, in a move tantamount to annexation of the Palestinian territory, which would be a blatant violation of international law.

Despite opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset voted 25-24 on Tuesday to advance the bill, in the first of four votes needed to pass it into law.
A Knesset statement said the bill was approved in a preliminary reading “to apply the sovereignty of the State of Israel to the territories of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)”. It will now go to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee for further deliberations.

The vote, which came a month after US President Donald Trump stated he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, was held during a visit by US Vice President JD Vance to Israel to shore up the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

In a statement, Likud called the votes “another provocation by the opposition aimed at damaging our relations with the United States”.

“True sovereignty will be achieved not through a showy law for the record, but through proper work on the ground,” the statement said.

Annexing the occupied West Bank would effectively end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as outlined in UN resolutions.

Likud member cast deciding vote
Some members in Netanyahu’s coalition – from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism faction – voted in favour of the bill.
“The people have spoken,” Smotrich said in a post on X.

“The time has come to apply full sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria – the inheritance of our forefathers – and to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbours, from a position of strength,” he said, using Biblical terms for the West Bank.

The bill was put forward by Avi Maoz, the leader of the far-right Noam Party, which does not belong to the governing coalition.

Most Likud lawmakers abstained or failed to show up for the vote, but one member – Yuli Edelstein – defied Netanyahu and cast the decisive vote in favour of the bill.

“At this very moment, Israeli sovereignty throughout our homeland is the order of the day,” he said in a post on X.

A second bill by an opposition party proposing the annexation of the Maale Adumim settlement was also passed.

In August, Israel approved a major settlement project between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem in an area of the occupied West Bank that the international community has warned would destroy the viability of a future Palestinian state.

‘Blatant violation of international law’
The votes drew swift condemnation from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Hamas, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

In a statement, the ministry condemned the vote, saying it “strongly rejects the Knesset’s attempts to annex Palestinian land”.

“The occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, constitute a single geographic unit over which Israel has no sovereignty,” it said.

Hamas said in a statement that the bills reflected “the ugly face of the colonial occupation”.

“We affirm that the occupation’s frantic attempts to annex West Bank lands are invalid and illegitimate,” the group said.

Qatar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the move in the “strongest terms”, calling the votes a “blatant violation of the historical rights of the Palestinian people and a challenge to international law”.