If Israel moves forward with its annexation plans on July 1, the Palestinian Authority will immediately declare a Palestinian State on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, and will immediately appeal to the international community to recognize the new state, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told journalists on Tuesday.
Speaking to members of the foreign press from his office in Ramallah, Shtayyeh said that he expects international sanctions to Israel, shall it annexes parts of the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
“We are facing the moment of truth: nowhere on earth can we live with this annexation,” the Palestinian Prime Minister said. “If Israel goes to annexation, it is a different day for us… Annexation is an existential threat to our future.”
‘No Halt on #Settlements’: #Netanyahu to Go ahead with #Annexation Plans without #US Conditions https://t.co/VqeHGFGiKs via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/0GFZMty9AH
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) June 8, 2020
“Annexation is the erosion of a future Palestinian state,” according to Shtayyeh, who added that “the world has to choose between international law and annexation. I am sure the international community will choose international law.”
On June 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his pledge to annex part of the West Bank in July.
Palestinians have expressed outrage, appealing to the international community to block the Israeli step, which, if implemented, would be considered the final nail in the two-state solution’s coffin.
#Israel to Withhold Palestinian Tax Money until #PA Reactivates ‘ #SecurityCoordination’ https://t.co/3xiV8cNqnM via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/ytJrppbsPW
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) June 8, 2020
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced on May 19 that the PA is canceling all agreements with Israel and the US, as a direct response to Israel’s annexation plans.
Shtayyeh said that Israel’s annexation plans are based on maps provided by the Trump administration and that those maps “endanger the whole future of the peace process.”
“If you ask Palestinians, ‘What do you want?’ Some will tell you two states, some will tell you one,” Shtayyeh concluded. “Maybe… there are different points of view. But there is no difference on point of view when it comes to one single thing: end of occupation. That is what the people want.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Let’s hope this is a start for serious consideration for the resolution of the conflict. I wish the Arab world would grow up and talk directly to the enemy Adults in the room are essential.
I’ve heard it said by a lifelong two-state activist in Israel that if Israel moves to annexation and the ‘out of the closet’ apartheid that would entail, that it could be predicted that within 25-50 years, Israel will cease to exist as it has. Continuing to pursue this two-state imaginary political solution may be an obstacle to the ultimate liberation of all the people in Israel/Palestine in one state.