Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected. Mr Netanyahu has promoted Jewish settlement expansion in his four terms as prime minister but until now refrained from presenting a detailed vision for the West Bank, seen by the Palestinians as the heartland of a future state. More recently, Mr Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967. The move was viewed in Israel as a political gift by Mr Trump to Mr Netanyahu who is being challenged by former military chief Benny Gantz. Mr Netanyahu pledged that he would not dismantle a single Jewish settlement and that Israel would retain control of the territory west of the Jordan River – the West Bank.

Source: The Irish Times April 07, 2019 07:41 UTC