Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to annex “all the settlements” in the West Bank as Israeli’s prepare to head to the polls in an unprecedented repeat election.
Netanyahu made a promise last week to annex parts of the West Bank: the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea. He took that pledge several steps further on Monday, promising to annex all of the West Bank, including Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the 2,180-square-mile territory.
“I intend to extend sovereignty on all the settlements and the (settlement) blocs,” including “sites that have security importance or are important to Israel’s heritage,” Netanyahu said, according to the Associated Press.
The pledge is likely a move to shore up Israeli nationalist voters ahead of a Tuesday election. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party is in a tight race with the centrist Blue and White Party for control of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
Israel took over the West Bank in 1967 after winning the Six-Day War. The territory is home to about 3 million Palestinians and roughly 400,000 Jews.
