Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a press conference today that his country will annex the occupied West Bank if the international community recognizes a Palestinian state next month, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"You have no chance, there will be no Palestinian state", Smotrich addressed those few countries that plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. "You will not decide abroad what the future of the Israeli people will look like", continued the finance minister, who is pushing for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. These are considered illegal under international law.
"If you recognize a Palestinian state in September, our response will be the affirmation of full Israeli sovereignty over all areas of Judea and Samaria" Smotrich also said at a press conference in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem. Israel calls the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967, Judea and Samaria.
A number of countries, including France, Canada and Australia, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September in response to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. They hope this will be a step towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the creation of two states. Both Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement "Hamas" however, continue to categorically reject this perspective.
Almost 150 of the 193 UN member states, including Bulgaria, have already recognized the Palestinian state. However, important Western countries are absent from them, including the US and the UK, which have veto power in UN Security Council votes.
To date, nearly 700,000 Israelis have settled permanently in the West Bank, while the Palestinian population is about 3 million.
Incidents of attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have increased since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.