Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu had decided to initially annex three illegal settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank and delay the annexation of the Jordan Valley and other Palestinian areas, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Zman Yisrael, the Hebrew sister site of The Times of Israel, said Netanyahu would postpone most annexations and only focus on the major blocs of Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion.

The three settlement blocs are home to almost 80 percent of the Jewish settler population in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu's government plans to hold a cabinet vote next month to annex parts of the West Bank, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.

The Israeli premier has repeatedly said he would annex all settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley as of July 1st under an agreement with his government partner. Benny Gantz, head of the Blue and White party.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu told settler leaders that the annexation of no-settlement areas could be delayed and not be seized in this time.

The West Bank, including east Jerusalem, is considered an occupied territory under international law, thus making all Jewish settlements there as well as the planned annexations illegal.

Israel’s annexation plan is seen as part of US president Donald Trump’s "Deal of the Century", which was announced on January 28. It refers to Occupied Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank.

The plan allows the Palestinians to establish a dismembered state in the form of an archipelago connected through bridges and tunnels.

Palestinian officials say that under the US plan, Israel will annex 30-40 percent of the West Bank, including all of east Jerusalem.

 

Source: The Palestinian Information Center