Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned his partner in the government, Defense Minister and Blue and White Party Chairman Benny Gantz against frustrating his efforts to annex land in the West Bank, while the Palestinians announced an international coalition to confront Israeli efforts.
The newspaper "Israel Today", which is close to Netanyahu, said that it is better for Gantz between accepting the annexation of West Bank lands or going to new elections.
The newspaper pointed out that Netanyahu feared that Gantz's position opposing the implementation of the annexation plan without coordination with Jordan and America would delay the implementation of the plan to a later date.
Netanyahu announced his decision to start the annexation process on the first of next July, but he still faces difficulties persuading Gantz to accept a large annexation of Palestinian lands, while the US administration requires that the annexation be supported by Netanyahu and Gantz's agreement.
According to the newspaper, during the last days, there were talks and exchanges of messages between Netanyahu and Gantz, during which the Prime Minister made clear to his partner that without annexing the Palestinian territories, there can be no unity government, noting that this week is crucial.
Netanyahu is working on a one-year budget, while Gantz is demanding a two-year budget.
Gantz fears that Netanyahu's insistence on the one-year budget is aimed at creating a crisis next year that will lead to an early election.
An international coalition
On the Palestinian front in the face of the Israeli efforts to annex large lands from the West Bank, the secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, announced on Monday that the Palestinians have an international coalition that includes 192 countries against those endeavors.
Erekat told the French press that the coalition includes the Arab group first, the non-aligned group, and the African and European group.
Erekat added that no one is against this coalition or with the annexation except Israel and the United States, and that the Palestinians are holding consultations with these countries and groups to hold a meeting in the United Nations General Assembly in the coming days.
He pointed out that the UN Security Council will meet next Wednesday at the request of the State of Palestine to discuss Israel's decision to annex, considering that the annexation decision is a violation of international law and international legitimacy, except for it is a systematic destruction by Israel of the peace process.
He stressed that all Arab countries are against the annexation decision, and that the Palestinian people have more options to thwart this decision, in order to end the occupation that has existed since 1967.
The Palestinians fear that Netanyahu will implement the plan to annex the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley area, which constitutes one third of the West Bank, and Israel is expected to implement the annexation process starting from July 1.
On Monday, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolai Miladinov, warned that the Israeli annexation plan would destroy the dream of establishing a Palestinian state.
Miladinov called - in a speech to him, during a festival organized by Palestinian factions in the city of Jericho - for international action, and made everything available to save the peace process, through negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
For its part, the Jordanian professional unions affirmed their position rejecting the measures taken by the Israeli occupation authorities to annex the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, as it represents a threat to national security.