American Ambassador warns Netanyahu over unilateral annexation statement

JERUSALEM — After Trump’s peace plan announcement which guaranteed Israel control over vast areas, Netanyahu announced that Israel has begun mapping areas of the West Bank that it plans to annex. The Palestinian National Authority absolutely rejected the annexation of territory in the West Bank, and the American Ambassador to Israel also warned against any unilateral steps in this regard.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Saturday that Israel has already begun mapping West Bank lands, which will be annexed by Israel according to the peace plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“We’re already in the process of mapping the territory that according to the Trump plan will be part of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu declared at an election rally Ma’ale Adumim settlement town on Saturday night. “This won’t take a lot of time and we’ll complete this.”

Netanyahu added that the region will include all Israeli settlements and the Jordan Valley, a region that Israel has kept under military occupation since its control in the war in 1976. However, Palestinians claim the Jordan Valley and wish it to be incorporated into a future Palestinian state.

Nabil Abu Rudainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, stated: “The only map that can be accepted is the map of the Palestinian State on the borders agreed on in 1976, with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman warned the Israeli authorities on Sunday about the announcement of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank without Washington’s approval.

Via his official Twitter account, Ambassador Friedman stated: “Israel must complete the mapping process within the framework of a joint Israeli-American committee. Any unilateral procedure before completing the process through the committee will threaten the American plan and acknowledgement.”