����ֱ��

JERUSALEM: Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of advancing two bills on annexing the occupied West Bank, an ambition openly promoted by far-right ministers in recent months.
The vote came with US Vice President JD Vance visiting Israel to shore up a Gaza ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump, who has made clear he would not back annexation of the West Bank.
“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” Trump told reporters at the White House in September. “It’s not going to happen.”
Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called on MPs from his Likud party to abstain from voting.
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,” it added.
During a preliminary reading on Wednesday, lawmakers voted in favor of examining two bills, which means they will be brought forward for further readings in parliament.
The first text, passed by 32 MPs to nine, proposed annexing Maale Adumim, a large Israeli settlement home to some 40,000 people just east of Jerusalem.
The second proposal to annex the entire West Bank was supported by 25 MPs while 24 voted against.
The Knesset, as the parliament is known, has 120 members.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have openly called for annexation of the Palestinian territory, occupied by Israel since 1967.
“Mr Prime Minister. The Knesset has spoken. The people have spoken,” Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on X.
“The time has come to impose full sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria — the inheritance of our ancestors — and to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbors with strength,” he said, using the Israeli Biblical term for the West Bank.
All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
In August, Israel approved a major settlement project between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem in an area of the Palestinian territory that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.
At a signing ceremony in September, Netanyahu vowed that there would be no Palestinian state.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us,” he said at the event in Maale Adumim.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements.
Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, violence has also surged in the West Bank.

LONDON: A small contingent of British military planning officers has been sent to Israel to join a task force led by the United States to support stabilization efforts in Gaza, the UK defense ministry said.
Gaza mediators — the United States, Egypt and Qatar — stepped up their efforts this week to stabilize the early stages of the truce between Israel and Hamas and to push forward US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan.
A US-backed stabilization force, known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center, or CMCC, is meant to ensure security in Gaza. Its composition, role, chain of command, legal status and other issues are yet to be agreed.
The US has agreed to provide up to 200 troops to support the force without being deployed in Gaza itself. US officials have said they are also speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and Azerbaijan to contribute.
A UK ministry of defense spokesperson said in a statement that a “small number of UK planning officers” had embedded in the CMCC, including a two-star deputy commander.
The spokesperson said the deployment was intended to ensure the UK remained integrated into US-led planning efforts for post-conflict stability in Gaza.
“The UK continues to work with international partners to support the Gaza ceasefire to see where the UK can best contribute to the peace process,” the spokesperson added.
British media reported that defense minister John Healey said on Monday that Britain had “specialist experience and skills that we have offered to contribute,” adding that while the UK would not lead the effort, it would play its part.
Healey said the deployment was made in response to a request from the United States.