Trump says Israel will lose US support if it annexes West Bank

United States President Donald Trump has told Time magazine that Israel would lose Washington’s crucial support if it annexes the occupied West Bank.

“It won’t happen,” Trump said in an interview published on Thursday. “It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now. We’ve had great Arab support.”

He added: “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”

The West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by the Israeli military during the Six-Day War in 1967. Since then, Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 7,00,000 Jews in the Palestinian cities, BBC reported. At least 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside the Jews.

Israeli troops regularly raid the West Bank and East Jerusalem and restrict the movement of the Palestinians. In the West Bank, the Israeli settlers exercise voting rights in Israeli elections, but their Palestinian neighbours have no say in them.

In addition to Gaza, Palestinians claim the two regions to build an independent state.

The annexation of the West Bank by Israel would eliminate hopes for a two-state solution, which seeks to establish a sovereign, viable and independent state of Palestine within recognised and mutually agreed borders, living alongside Israel in peace.

On Wednesday, the Israeli parliament narrowly passed a preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank, The Indian...

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