JERUSALEM: Economy Minister Naftali Bennett yesterday proposed that Israel annex parts of the West Bank under its full military control where most Jewish settlers live. “I favour implementation of Israeli sovereignty over the zone where 400,000 (settlers) live and only 70,000 Arabs,” said the head of the far-right Jewish Home religious party in the ruling coalition.
Bennett also ridiculed the US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose writ covers the West Bank but not Gaza, ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas.
“This is all a joke. It’s as if we’re discussing the purchase of a car with only half of its owners,” he told public radio.
In another negative Israeli assessment of the peace process, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said: “There is no partner on the Palestinian side to reach a two-state solution for two peoples.” Their views contrasted with a statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry at the end of his latest mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories.AFP
