“It’s not something we can support at this point,” Marco Rubio said before departing for occupied Palestine as part of a U.S. effort to shore up a fragile ceasefire agreement.
In an attempt to embarrass Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right politicians have taken the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill that would give Israel the power to annex the West Bank.
Hamas issued a statement on Wednesday after parliament voted in favor of a bill that would apply the usurper’s law to all settlements in the West Bank and another, more limited bill that would annex the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. These bills would need to pass three more votes in the full chamber to become law.
Resistance groups said the move shows Israel’s continued efforts to “legalize” settlements and impose “sovereignty” on the occupied Palestinian territories, and is in flagrant violation of international law and resolutions.
Israel bears full responsibility for the outcome of the annexation bill, and called on the United Nations, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to condemn the document, act to rein in its occupation policies, and hold the regime accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people.
“Hamas affirms that the occupation forces’ frenzied attempts to annex lands in the West Bank are null and void and illegal,” Hamas said in a statement. “History, international law, and the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will not change the fact that the West Bank is Palestinian land.”
MNA/