Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a supporter of the annexation of the West Bank, announced today that he has left for an “urgent visit“ to the US, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
“Last night I left for an urgent visit to the US, where I will meet with government officials, including US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant“, Smotrich wrote on the social network “Ex“ at a time when US President Donald Trump may make an official statement in the coming days on the issue of annexing all or part of the West Bank - Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
“The aim of this visit is to strengthen economic cooperation between Israel and the US, to encourage joint economic initiatives and to deepen the strategic alliance between our two countries“, added Smotrich, a far-right settler and without whose support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose his majority.
The news of this visit comes against the backdrop of an emergency summit of the Arab League organized today in Cairo, which will discuss a counter-proposal to the plan announced by Trump on February 4 for the US to take control of the Gaza Strip and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East“ after transferring the Palestinians living there in third countries.
Asked during the presentation of this plan whether he supported the principle of annexation of the West Bank by Israel, Trump said he would likely make a statement on the issue within a month.
The UN International Court of Justice ruled last year in an advisory opinion that Israel's continued presence in the West Bank is illegal.
The continued construction of Jewish settlements in that territory has been regularly condemned as illegal under international law by the UN.