A prominent Palestinian official has warned against the consequences of the Israeli government’s decision to annex occupied Palestinian lands.
Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat said the unilateral measures taken by Israeli authorities have destructive effects on regional security and stability.
In a phone call with Foreign Minister of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn, Erekat said the occupation authorities continue their settlement expansion, neglecting all UN and international resolutions on the Palestinian cause that call for ending settlements.
Both officials spoke after the European Union announced a 71 million euros (about $77.5 million) aid package for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to help contain the coronavirus outbreak in Palestine.
The PLO’s National Office for the Defense of Land and Resistance of Settlement has stressed in its weekly report that Washington and Tel Aviv are so close to agreeing on the map of the West Bank areas to be annexed.
According to the report, the Israeli government is preparing through dialogue with the US administration and the international community to annex and impose its “sovereignty” over the Jordan Valley and the Northern Dead Sea on July 10.
“PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party agreed to impose Israeli sovereignty over these territories next summer,” the report noted, adding that this would remove obstacles to the formation of a new Israeli government.
“An Israeli human rights association said the Israeli government, supported by US President Donald Trump, is taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic and is preparing for the annexation, in light of local and international indifference to this political issue due to the virus’s outbreak.”
According to Netanyahu’s Office Director General Ronen Peretz, the US-Israeli team, led by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Israeli Tourism Minister Yrev Levin, continue to work on completing the annexation map.
Peretz said both sides are currently discussing some observations and amendments that Israel believes should be part of the original map, submitted as part of Trump’s Deal of the Century and includes the areas Israel may annex.
