The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh, is calling the international attention and asking for sanctions towards the Israeli expansion plan. Shtayyeh claims that he will declare Jerusalem the capital of the newborn state of Palestine, calling for global recognition if Israel attempts to annex the territory of the West Bank.
This area is one of the recurrent issues of the asymmetrical warfare between Palestine and Israel, which included decades of international efforts towards an agreement on a two-state system. Palestine has declared statehood before, but without a proper agreement between the two countries, it has not yet been recognised by the international community. One of the biggest Palestinian achievement has been the United Nations observer status in 2012. However, its territories are occupied and risk to be expropriated by Israel, which would leave the Palestinians with no citizenship nor equal rights.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly considered the annexation and will further discuss it on July 1st. The possible re-election of Donald Trump are likely to affect the situation due to his close relations with Israel. On the Palestinian side, in May the leader Mahmoud Abbas has denounced that all agreements with the US and Israel were void, aggravating the tense atmosphere. Meanwhile, Shtayyeh calls on London and on other European countries to stand for the Palestinian State and to finally recognise it. The annexation would violate past international treaties and accords, and would surely lead to massive violence.
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Author: Carla Pintor
