Benjamin Netanyahu condemned for settlement annexation pledge

Palestinian leaders have led a chorus of condemnation after Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu controversially announced he plans to annex settlements in the West Bank if he is re-elected on Tuesday.

Asked on television why he had yet to extend sovereignty to large West Bank settlements, the Israeli prime minister replied: “Who says that we won’t do it? We are on the way and we are discussing it.

“You are asking whether we are moving on to the next stage – the answer is yes, we will move to the next stage.”

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, said Israel will “continue to brazenly violate international law” for as long as “the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity”.

Erekat, a close aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, pinpointed Donald Trump’s “support and endorsement of Israel’s violation of the national and human rights of the people of Palestine”.