Israel’s parliament advances bill to annex occupied West Bank

Israel’s parliament has voted to give preliminary approval to a bill to impose Israeli sovereignty on the occupied West Bank, in a move tantamount to annexation of the Palestinian territory, which would be a blatant violation of international law.

Despite opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset voted 25-24 on Tuesday to advance the bill, in the first of four votes needed to pass it into law.

A Knesset statement said the bill was approved in a preliminary reading “to apply the sovereignty of the State of Israel to the territories of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)”. It will now go to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee for further deliberations.

The vote, which came a month after United States President Donald Trump stated he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, was held during a visit by US Vice President JD Vance to Israel to shore up the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

Speaking before his departure from the US to visit Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that President Trump had “made clear” that the Knesset’s vote on annexation was “not something we’d be supportive of”.

“We think it’s even threatening to the peace deal,” Rubio said, referring to Trump’s plan for ending Israel’s war on Gaza.

“We think it might be counterproductive,” he said.

In a statement, Likud called the votes “another provocation by the opposition aimed at damaging our relations with the United States”.

“True sovereignty will be achieved not through a showy law for the record, but through proper work on the ground,” the statement said.

Annexing the occupied West Bank would effectively end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as outlined in United Nations resolutions.