Naftali Bennett, Israel’s Minister Education and leader of the far-right, pro-settlement HaBayit HaYehdi (Jewish Home) party, said Sunday morning, January 1, that by the end of this month he will propose a bill to annex the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. According to the Arabic language daily newspaper of the Communist Party of Israel, Al-Ittihad, during Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, Bennett indicated that he expects “all the ministers in the government” to support the proposal.

Israel’s Minister of Education and leader of the far-right, pro-settlement Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett (Photo: Activestills)

Maale Adumim is an urban settlement encompassing more than 49 sq km of land deep inside the West Bank, extending eastward from Jerusalem and surrounded on four sides by the Judean Desert. The settlement, which is linked to the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv metropolitan areas by national Highway 1, is home to upwards of 37,000 Israelis, making it the third largest settlement, population wise, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Due to its strategic location, Palestinians see Maale Adumim as a threat to the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state, as it in large part bisects the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.

Many Israelis consider Maale Adumim an Israeli suburban city of Jerusalem, despite it being located in the OPT in contravention of international law. Calls to annex the massive settlement – paving the way for Israel’s annexation of the majority of the occupied West Bank – have gained momentum among Israel’s lawmakers and ministers following last week’s passage of UN Security Council resolution 2334 which condemns and demands that Israel cease all settlement-related activity in the OPT and reaffirms the illegality of the settlements. In the days following the passage of resolution 2334, reports emerged that Israel was advancing plans for hundreds of new settlement units, and Israel’s Jerusalem municipality approved a plan to construct a new building for Jewish settlers in Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem.

Bennett reacted to the UN Security Council’s resolution by calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rescind his support for the two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state, which Bennett perceives to be a security threat to the Israel. “No resolution can change the fact that this land, Jerusalem, is our capital. And no people can be a conqueror in their own land. That’s why this resolution, like many of the earlier resolutions, will be thrown into the dustbin of history,” Bennett said. Following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president, Bennett said that a Trump presidency would mark the end of a push for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. “This is the position of the President-elect, as written in his platform, and it should be our policy, plain and simple. The era of a Palestinian state is over,” he said.

Related:

• Security Council Calls on Israel to Cease All OPT Settlement Activities
• Israel Approves Construction of New Settlement Building in Silwan