‘Annexing West Bank is war crime’, says PLO chief

A potential move to annex some parts of the West Bank under a long-awaited US peace plan would be "a war crime,” PLO chief Saeb Erekat said on Saturday, responding to earlier remarks by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

"Washington gives everybody enough reasons not to attend the Bahrain economic summit," said Erekat, referring to the US-lead meeting planned for the end of June that is expected to reveal some of President Donald Trump's peace plan.

The remarks came after Friedman claimed in an interview published by The New York Times on Saturday, that some degree of annexation of the West Bank would be legitimate.

"Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank," he said, in comments likely to become yet another  nail in the coffin of a peace process that is already on life support.

The Palestinians have rejected the plan before it has even been unveiled, citing a string of moves by US President Donald Trump that they say show his administration is irredeemably biased.

The establishment of a Palestinian state in territories, including the West Bank, that Israel occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967, has been the focus of all past Middle East peace plans.

No firm date has yet been set for the unveiling of the Trump administration's plan although a conference is to be held in Bahrain later this month on its economic aspects.

Failed state helps nobody

Public comments made by administration officials so far suggest the plan will lean heavily on substantial financial support for the Palestinian economy, much of it funded by the Gulf Arab states, in return for concessions on territory and statehood.

"The absolute last thing the world needs is a failed Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan," Friedman said in the Times interview.

"Maybe they won't take it, maybe it doesn't meet their minimums.

"We're relying upon the fact that the right plan, for the right time, will get the right reaction over time."

Friedman, a staunch supporter of the Israeli settlements, told the Times that the Trump plan was aimed at improving the quality of life for Palestinians but would fall well short of a "permanent resolution to the conflict".

He said he did not believe the plan would trigger Palestinian violence, but he said the United States would coordinate closely with Arab ally Jordan, which could face unrest among its large Palestinian population over a plan perceived as overly favourable to Israel.

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a statement on Saturday that Trump should remove Friedman from his post if he wanted to retain any credibility for his peace efforts.

"The American president, if it is his intention to be an honest broker, must instruct Friedman to pack his bags tonight," the NGO wrote in Hebrew on Twitter.

"With friends like US Ambassador David Friedman, who needs enemies?" it said.

Meanwhile, publication of the plan looks set to be further delayed after the Israeli parliament called a snap general election for September, the second this year.

The plan is regarded as too sensitive to release during the campaign.

During campaigning for the first general election in April, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledged to annex West Bank Jewish settlements, a move long supported by nearly all lawmakers in his alliance of right-wing and religious parties.

In February, Netanyahu told lawmakers he had been discussing with Washington a plan that would effectively annex settlements.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said at the time that such a move would be tantamount to "US complicity with Israeli colonial plans". 

In a rare public show of disunity between the close allies, the White House then flatly denied discussions on the subject.

Following persistent expansion of the settlements by successive Netanyahu governments, more than 600,000 Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, among some three million Palestinians.

The international community regards the settlements as a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.

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