'Time to stop': Trump vows Israel will not annex West Bank

WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday (Sep 25) that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, rejecting calls from far-right Israeli politicians who want to extend sovereignty over the area and snuff out hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced some pressure from allies to annex the West Bank, prompting alarm among Arab leaders, some of whom met on Tuesday with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

"I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It's not going to happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"There's been enough. It's time to stop now," he said.

Trump made the comments as Netanyahu was arriving in New York to deliver an address to the UN on Friday.

Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's remarks.
 

Israeli settlements have grown in size and number since Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war. They stretch deep into the territory with a system of roads and other infrastructure under Israeli control, further slicing up the land.

A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan known as the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem,received final approval in August. 

It will cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state.

Trump met leaders and officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan on Tuesday to discuss the nearly two-year-long war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Arab and Muslim countries warned him about the grave consequences of any annexation of the West Bank - a message the US president "understands very well", according to Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Farhan Al-Saud.

Trump could realistically hold back Netanyahu but the question is whether he will or not, said Gregory Treverton, professor of international relations and spatial sciences at the University of Southern California.

The analyst noted that this could be another example of Trump talking big while attempting to escape a crisis he cannot solve, such as the Russia-Ukraine war.

"I think (Trump) would be prepared to use the full weight of American support and arms deliveries," he told CNA's Asia First. 

"He probably could twist Netanyahu's arms into at least not formally annexing the West Bank. But with Trump, it's never clear whether this is tough talk that's going to go away immediately as he loses interest in this particular issue."

About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.

Israel refuses to cede control of the West Bank, a position it says has been reinforced since the Hamas-led militant attack on its territory, launched on Gaza Oct 7, 2023.