MAALE ADUMIM, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record fifth term is likely to be dominated by corruption allegations, scrutiny of his election promises and the unveiling of U.S. President Donald Trump’s long-awaited Middle East plan.
In the closing days of a campaign that had been driven more by personalities than policy, Netanyahu, 69, seized international attention by promising to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“Who says that we won’t do it? We are on the way and we are discussing it,” Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 12 News on April 7 when he was asked why he had not extended Israeli sovereignty to large West Bank settlements.
Some political analysts saw the right-wing leader’s pledge as a calculated bid before Tuesday’s election to siphon votes from far-right rivals who have long advocated annexation of the West Bank, where more than 400,000 Israeli settlers now live, among 2.9 million Palestinians.
Settlements, which Israel’s B’Tselem rights group says cover about 10 percent of the West Bank, are one of the most heated issues in efforts to restart peace talks, frozen since 2014.
The Palestinians and many countries consider the settlements illegal under the Geneva conventions that bar settling on land captured in war. Israel disputes this, citing security needs and biblical, historical and political connections to the land.
Netanyahu’s words drew immediate condemnation from Palestinians, and created an expectation among some settlers, at least, that he would deliver if re-elected.
“May the dream of annexation come true,” said Itzik Gideon, a 65-year-old resident of the settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem. “I think we will get more building permits here in Maale Adumim, it will do us much good.”
Others expressed concern that without annexation, their settlements could be evacuated, as a previous Israeli government did with its settlements in Gaza in 2005, a move that Netanyahu opposed.
“My friends have been driven out from their house, so I hope it’s not going to happen again. Not to me, not to anyone in the settlements,” said Sipir Cohen, 25, a kindergarten teacher from Shilo settlement.
Read the article by Ron Bousso and Rami Ayyub in the Australian Financial Review and also at USNews.