Israeli plan threatens to cut through West Bank

It’s another ina series of moves Israel has taken over the last two years to further the possible annexation of the West Bank, which Palestinians consider a part of their future state and which Israel snatched from Jordan in 1967; its occupation is considered illegal by international law.

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THE Palestinian Bedouin community, foreground, of Jabal Al-Baba may be displaced by the plans for the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, background.

(MAYA ALLERUZZO For The Times)

President Trump said annexation is a red line he will not allow Israel to cross, but he also has not discouraged Israel from expanding settlements in the region.

El would cut any Palestinian link to East Jerusalem — where Palestinians hope to make their capital — and torpedo any chance of a contiguous Palestinian state.

This week, ultranationalist ministers in the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval toa bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank — a largely symbolic move that appears to have been an attempt to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has long called for the annexation of the West Bank but has demurred from doing so for fear ofangeringIsrael’smain patron in the U.S.

Vice President JD Vance, who visited Israel this week, on Thursday said of the vote that if it is “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”

“T personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”

But Israel has taken plenty of steps aimed at making annexation a de facto scenario that may soon turn irreversible. It has restricted movement by erecting 288 gates on entrances and exits of Palestinians towns and villages, adding to what the U.N. says are 849 “movement obstacles,” as settlements have increased in number and size, further penning Palestinians into islands of territory they have little chance of leaving.

One such gate, a yellow metal barrier on the road that Israeli soldiers lock and then leave, appeared this month at Ezariya’s eastern entrance, said Abu Al-Rish.