Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise to annex a strategic map of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday (September 10th) to try to seduce his right-wing electorate has not been to everyone's taste.

Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to annex the Jewish settlements, which represent about 90 percent of the Jordan Valley's territory, but "not Arab villages or cities like Jericho". The Jordan Valley accounts for about 30% of the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. If the Likud leader said that the plan would not affect "one Palestinian," many see it as a further step back to an attempt of peace.

Blatant violation of international law

Starting with the Palestinians, who perceived in this project a desire to destroy "any chance of peace". "It's a blatant violation of international law, it's flagrant theft of land, it's ethnic cleansing," said Hanane Achraoui, a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) executive, reported by the Agence France-Presse, it destroys not only the two-state solution, but any chance of peace, it changes the situation. "

On the side of Hamas, even defiance at the announcement of the leader of the Likud: "Netanyahu is looking for extreme right votes by selling his public the illusion that he can occupy the Palestinian land forever," told AFP Hazem Qassem, spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist movement, in power in Gaza.

"Dangerous climbing"

Saudi Arabia has described the promise of the Israeli prime minister as "dangerous escalation" in the event of re-election in the parliamentary elections on 17 September.

"The kingdom claims that this statement is a very dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people and represents a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and the principles of international law," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Tuesday night. , citing the royal court.

Riyadh also called for an "emergency meeting" of foreign ministers of 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), adds the SPA agency.

"Devastating perspective"

The UN warned Israel on Tuesday: "Such a prospect would be devastating for the possibility of restarting negotiations, regional peace and the very essence of a two-state solution", Israel and Palestine, said the door. UN spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric. "Any Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdictions and administration in the occupied West Bank would have no international legal effect," he added. Asked about the reaction of UN chief Antonio Guterres, the spokesman said: "The position of the Secretary General is clear: unilateral actions do not help the peace process".

As for Jordan, guardian of Muslim holy places in East Jerusalem, she quickly warned that this decision "would drag the whole region into violence".

The United States, which has been a steadfast supporter of Israel since Trump's accession to the White House, is expected to present details of their peace plan for the Middle East after the Israeli elections.

Netanyahu, who is campaigning on the right and courting the Jewish settler electorate for the annexation of the West Bank, is currently neck and neck with his rival, former army chief Benny Gantz, at the head of the of the blue-white centrist party. "We understand that the Prime Minister has said that (annexation) is the carrot of Trump's plan, the question remains: what is the stick, what should we give, what will we pay for?" reacted on the Israeli channel Kan, Ayelet Shaked, former minister at the head of a coalition of small pro-colonies right-wing parties.

Political survival

According to analysts, the Israeli prime minister, to be heard next month by the courts in cases of "corruption" and "malpractices", plays his political survival in these elections.

A few days before the last legislative elections in April, which had not led to the formation of a government - hence this new vote - Benjamin Netanyahu had already promised to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

While Israel's colonization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem has continued under all Israeli governments since 1967, it has accelerated in recent years under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and his ally in Washington, Donald Trump. To date, more than 600,000 Israelis face conflicting coexistence with 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

With AFP and Reuters