Donald Trump has said he will not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The US president told White House reporters ahead of Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly on Friday: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank… It’s not going to happen.”
Trump, who will meet Netanyahu on Monday, also said a ceasefire deal over the war in Gaza was “pretty close”.
Israel is facing increasing global pressure to end the conflict and occupation of the West Bank, as a wave of Western states formally recognise an independent Palestinian state. Far-right Israelis view annexation as a means of preventing a Palestinian state being created.
Ultranationalists in Netanyahu’s governing coalition have repeated calls for Israel to annex the West Bank – part of the Palestinian territories – outright.
The UK and Germany say they have warned Israel against annexation, while UN Secretary General António Guterres said such a move would be “morally, legally and politically intolerable”.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he had spoken to Netanyahu as well as other Middle Eastern leaders.
“We’re getting pretty close to having a deal on Gaza, and maybe even peace,” Trump said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly via video link the same day that he was ready to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians that was announced by France on Monday.
The 89-year-old was barred from travelling to New York, where the UN headquarters are, by the US.
Abbas thanked countries which had recently recognised a Palestinian state in a wave of declarations that began with Canada, Australia, the UK and Portugal on Sunday, and was followed by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and Denmark.
The US is currently opposed to recognising Palestine, saying such a move would be a reward for Hamas.
“Hamas will not have a role to play in governance,” Abbas said in his speech. He also called for a Palestinian state to assume “full responsibilities” for the Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal and connect it with the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
