Israel To Annex Palestinian West Bank, Claims Reporter Behind US Nord Stream Leak

Last Updated:November 23, 2024, 12:08 IST

Seymour Hersh on his Substack blog said Israel will soon formally announce that it has taken over the Palestinian West Bank.

Palestinian boys ride a bicycle as they watch Israeli military vehicles during an Israeli raid, in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

The Israeli leadership will formally annex the West Bank in the near future, as early as two weeks, claimed veteran journalist Seymour Hersh. Hersh, who also unveiled the alleged US role in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts, said there are also calls that north Gaza be ‘turned over’ to Israeli settlers.

“I was told this week by a well-informed Washington official that the Israeli leadership will formally annex the West Bank in the very near future—perhaps in two weeks," Hersh wrote in his Substack column.

He said Israelis are hoping ‘that the decisive step will end, once and for all, any talk of a two-state solution and will convince some in the sceptical Arab world to reconsider financing the planned reconstruction of Gaza’.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel, and since then Israeli forces have mounted several raids targeting Jenin’s refugee camp, a known stronghold for militant groups.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 777 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel has held the West Bank since 1967. The area is also under partial Palestinian Authority control, with Israel maintaining military and civil authority over some regions. The West Bank is divided into Areas A, B, and C, with varying levels of Palestinian and Israeli control.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, governs Areas A and B, while Israel controls Area C, which includes most of the West Bank’s settlements.

“This will be the new phase, and suddenly the world’s attention will go away from Gaza and Lebanon. And everybody will be talking about the annexation of the West Bank in a month or two," Hersh quoted a source as saying in his column.

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

News world Israel To Annex Palestinian West Bank, Claims Reporter Behind US Nord Stream Leak