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Arab nations have condemned a plan by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to annex a third of the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday Netanyahu pledged to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea if he is returned to office following a general election next week.
Officials in Jordan and Saudi Arabia sharply criticized the announcement.
The Palestinians said the move would be “illegal”, while the UN said it would destroy the chance of new peace talks.
The annexation proposed by Netanyahu would “bury any chance of peace”, said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 but has stopped short of annexation.
Palestinians claim the whole of the area for a future independent state. Netanyahu has previously insisted Israel would always retain a presence in the Jordan Valley for security purposes.
A UN spokesman said the proposed annexation would have “no international legal effect”.
The Israeli PM, whose right-wing Likud party is neck and neck in the polls with an opposition centrist alliance, unveiled the plan in a televised address.
“Today, I announce my intention, after the establishment of a new government, to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea,” Netanyahu said.
He said this could be done immediately after the election if he received a “clear mandate” from Israeli citizens.
He said the move would allow Israel to seize a historic opportunity, but his domestic political opponents dismissed the pledge as an election stunt.
He also again pledged that he would annex all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but said this would need to wait until the publication of US President Donald Trump’s long-awaited plan for a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
What’s the reaction?
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the move would be “devastating” to the prospects of revived peace negotiations.
“Any Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdictions, and administration in the occupied West Bank is without any international legal effect,” Stéphane Dujarric added.
The Arab League – an organization of 22 states – said Netanyahu’s plan was a “dangerous development” that would violate international law and “torpedo” the foundations of peace.
Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the plan was “unquestionably reprehensible” and a “threat to international peace and security”.
“This announcement is a declaration of war against the Palestinian people’s rights as well as the very foundations of the international rules-based order,” she said.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, called the plan a “serious escalation” and warned it could “push the whole region towards violence”.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, described the pledge as “racist” and criticized Netanyahu for “giving all kind of illegal, unlawful and aggressive messages” before the election.
Saudi Arabia also condemned the announcement on state media as a “very dangerous escalation” and called for an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in response.
The Jordan Valley is a fertile strip of land running along the Jordan border that comprises nearly 30% of the West Bank.
It is sparsely populated – home to around 65,000 Palestinians and 11,000 Jewish settlers. As such, it is the largest land reserve the Palestinians would have for the future development of an independent state.
But currently, they are barred from entering or using about 85% of the area, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. That’s because most of the territory was designated under the 1993 Oslo peace accords as “Area C”, which means it’s under full Israeli control.
