Palestinians denounce Israel's pledge to annex West Bank

JERUSALEM - Israel's leader will face a "real problem" if he follows through with his election campaign promise to annex Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Sunday.

Riad Malki told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jordan that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge was likely aimed at rallying his nationalist base in the final stretch of a tight race.

He said Israel cannot expel the Palestinians. "We will stay there," he said. "Then you know the international community has to deal with us."

On Saturday, Netanyahu pledged to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected, just days before the closely-fought April 9 poll.

"I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he said in an interview with Channel 12 television.

He did not provide details on how quickly he planned to move ahead with it and whether it would involve all settlements.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's statement on annexation was "not surprising", Agence France-Presse reported.

"Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity, particularly with the Trump administration's support," he said on Twitter.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, also expressed concerns about Washington's "illegitimate decisions" in the region. "We see the solution in dialogue between countries, because unilateral actions will never lead to anything good," he said.

Settlements built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War are deemed illegal by the international community and ongoing construction is seen as a major barrier to peace.

A so-called two-state solution has long been the preferred option of most of the international community. However, intermittent US mediation between Israelis and Palestinians ran aground after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital early in his term. The Palestinians, who seek Israeli-annexed east Jeru-salem as their capital, suspended contact with the United States in response, AFP reported.

The US State Department declined to comment on Netanyahu's statement.

In an interview broadcast on Friday, Netanyahu said he told Trump he would not remove settlements or people as part of a future US peace plan.

"I said there shouldn't be the removal of even one settlement" from the West Bank, Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 13 television.

More than 400,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements as part of Israel's military occupation of the territory, where more than 2.5 million Palestinians live.

In any partition deal, the more isolated Jewish settlements would likely have to be uprooted to create a viable Palestinian state.

Turkey meanwhile accused Netanyahu on Sunday of raising annexation as a means of improving his standings in the elections.

"West Bank is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in violation of int'l law," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu's irresponsible statement to seek votes just before the Israeli general elections cannot and will not change this fact."

Agencies