Türkiye condemns Israel's West Bank annexation vote
ANKARA
Türkiye has joined the countries slamming Israeli parliament’s move to annex the occupied West Bank, as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also warned steps taken by the Knesset and settler violence threatened a Gaza peace deal.
Israeli lawmakers voted on Oct. 22 to advance two bills on annexing the occupied West Bank, with both measures still requiring three additional readings before becoming law.
“The Israeli parliament’s step toward annexation of the occupied West Bank is contrary to international law,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It’s completely null and void.”
In a joint statement reported by the Saudi state news agency, more than a dozen Muslim and Arab states also condemned the pair of Israeli bills calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The 14 countries, including Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, said they "condemn in the strongest terms" the bills, which they called "a blatant violation of international law."
Trump said Thursday that Israel was "not going to do anything" in the West Bank.
"Don't worry about the West Bank, Israel's not going to do anything with the West Bank," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if he was concerned by the votes in the Israeli parliament.
The first text, passed by 32 MPs to nine, proposed annexing Maale Adumim, a large Israeli settlement home to some 40,000 people just east of Jerusalem.
The second proposal to annex the entire West Bank was supported by 25 MPs while 24 voted against.
The Knesset, as the parliament is known, has 120 members.
Before heading to Israel, Rubio said, "I think the president's made clear that's not something we can be supportive of right now," Rubio said of annexation as he boarded his plane for a visit to Israel.
Annexation moves are "threatening for the peace deal," he told reporters.
The Knesset vote came despite opposition from Trump, who said last month that he would not permit Israel to annex the West Bank. The move also coincided with a visit to Israel by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
West Bank move ‘very stupid’
Before leaving Israel, Vance said that the preliminary Knesset vote on annexing the West Bank offended him and was “very stupid.”
The vote was “weird,” he said in response to a question, adding that he was “sort of confused by that.”
Vance said he was told it was a “political stunt” and “purely symbolic,’ but that it was a “very stupid political stunt and I personally take some insult to it.”
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance declared. “That will continue to be our policy, and if people want to take symbolic votes they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.”
In a statement, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Knesset's vote, saying it "strongly rejects the Knesset's attempts to annex Palestinian land.”
Jordan's Foreign Ministry also said it "strongly condemned" the votes, which it called "a blatant violation of international law and a grave undermining of the two-state solution.”
All of Israel's settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
In August, Israel approved a major settlement project between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem in an area of the Palestinian territory that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.
At a signing ceremony in September, Netanyahu vowed that there would be no Palestinian state.
