Israeli parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of advancing two bills to annex the occupied West Bank, even as PM Benjamin Netanyahu asked members of his Likud party to abstain from voting, suggesting that sovereignty should be achieved not by passing laws but through work on the ground, while the US reiterated its opposition to annexation amid widespread international consensus that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
The vote came as Washington warned that the move risked destabilising the Gaza peace deal, which President Donald Trump had pushed through barely a week earlier to end Israel’s two-year offensive in the territory. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said annexation efforts and rising settler violence were threatening the fragile ceasefire, adding that such steps would be counterproductive to regional stability.
The United States, long Israel’s principal military and diplomatic backer, has been seeking the cooperation of Arab and Muslim states for a post-war stabilisation force in Gaza, many of which view annexation as a red line.
During the preliminary reading, lawmakers supported two separate proposals — one to annex Maale Adumim, a large settlement east of Jerusalem, and another to annex the entire West Bank. Both were strongly backed by far-right ministers who have openly campaigned for full Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territory, arguing that it constitutes the ancestral land of the Jewish people.
Netanyahu’s Likud party described the opposition-led bills as provocations aimed at straining Israel’s ties with the United States, insisting that lasting sovereignty required gradual consolidation on the ground rather than declarations in parliament.
The West Bank, excluding Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, is home to around three million Palestinians and more than half a million Israeli settlers, and has witnessed a surge in violence since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have used the conflict to strengthen their call for annexation, framing it as essential for Israel’s security.
Critics, however, see the current legislative push as an attempt to legitimise Israel’s ongoing settlement expansion and transform temporary occupation into permanent control, undermining any future possibility of a Palestinian state.