Israel will annex Palestinian West Bank, says reporter behind US Nord Stream leak

Latest update:November 23, 2024, 12:08 pm IST

Seymour Hersh reported on his Substack blog that Israel will soon officially announce its takeover of the Palestinian West Bank.

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

The Israeli leadership will officially annex the West Bank as soon as possible in two weeks, said veteran journalist Seymour Hersh. Hersh, who also exposed the alleged US role in the Nord Stream pipeline explosions, said there were also calls to “hand over” northern Gaza to Israeli settlers.

“This week, a well-informed official in Washington told me that Israeli leaders will formally annex the West Bank in the very near future—perhaps within two weeks,” Hersh wrote in his article. Substack column.

He said the Israelis hoped “that the decisive step will once and for all end any talk of a two-state solution and persuade some in the skeptical Arab world to reconsider funding the planned reconstruction of Gaza.”

Violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since war broke out in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year following a Hamas attack on Israel, and Israeli forces have since carried out several raids targeting the Jenin refugee camp, a known stronghold of militant groups.

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

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

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

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

“This will be a new phase, and suddenly the world’s attention will be diverted from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. And in a month or two, everyone will be talking about annexing the West Bank,” Hersh quotes a source in his column.

Location :

Washington, DC, United States of America (USA)