’Israel’ Seeks to Annex 13 Percent of West Bank

Local Editor

"Israeli" army radio reported that "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US Secretary of State John Kerry that he wants to annex a so-called "fourth bloc" of the "Israeli" occupation settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Until now, "Israel" has always spoken of its intention to annex three blocks of settlements in any future agreement with the Palestinian Authority: the "Etzion" bloc in the south; "Maaleh Adumim" to the east of Occupied al-Quds; and the Ariel bloc in the north.
The report said Netanyahu was proposing that "Israel" also continues t occupy a group of settlements deep in the West Bank - "Beit El, Ofra and Psagot" - which lie to the north and east of Ramallah.
A settlement bloc is an area where clusters of settlements have been established in relatively close proximity to one another, in which the majority of the West Bank's 367,000 "Israeli" settlers currently live.
If "Israel" was to keep hold of the "Beit El bloc" as well as the others, it would mean annexing a total of 13 percent of the occupied West Bank, the radio said, describing it as a "very large percentage" of the territory.
"In the negotiating room, Netanyahu is talking about 13 percent of territory," the radio's diplomatic correspondent Ilil Shahar said, quoting sources close to Netanyahu.

She also said: "Netanyahu is proposing to a (land) swap of three to four percent then paying for the rest."

Netanyahu's office refused to comment on the report.

"Israel" and the Palestinian Authority embarked upon a nine-month track of direct negotiations at the urging of US Secretary of State John Kerry, at the end of July, which appear to have made little progress as "Israel" continues to build more illegal settlements and conduct raids and strikes against Palestinians.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team