By Simon Lewis and Alexander Cornwell
TEL AVIV (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that President Donald Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and it would not happen, a day after Israeli lawmakers launched legislation to that end.
Vance spoke after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that moves toward annexing the territory that Palestinians seek for part of an independent state could endanger Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, which has yielded a shaky ceasefire so far.
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy,” Vance said during a trip to Israel to help shore up the Gaza truce.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said after Vance’s remarks that the government had not decided to bring the vote on annexation forward at this stage in order to ensure the success of Trump’s multi-stage Gaza plan.
The U.S. has long been Israel’s most powerful and staunch major power ally and the Trump administration is particularly close to Israel with considerable sway over its leadership.
Senior U.S. officials including Rubio have been visiting Israel seeking to keep alive the brittle ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas after two years of devastating war that has upended the Middle East.
VANCE ‘FEELS PRETTY GOOD’ ABOUT GAZA TRUCE
Vance told reporters in Tel Aviv that he “feels pretty good” about the Gaza ceasefire after having talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Repeated bouts of gunfire and explosions have shaken the deal and the two sides have traded blame for violations of its first phase, which has seen the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a handover of bodies of some deceased hostages, and a partial pullout of Israeli troops.
Both sides have reiterated their commitment to the U.S.-mediated ceasefire after two years of war triggered by the October 7, 2023 cross-border Hamas assault on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s air and ground war in response has killed over 68,000 people and reduced much of the tiny, heavily urbanised Gaza Strip to rubble, Gaza health authorities say.
The U.S. State Department said Rubio was visiting Israel to support the implementation of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan and pave the way towards reconstruction, stable governance and possible steps towards Palestinian statehood.
He was preceded by Vance, who was also due to meet Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday before departing.
ISRAELI PARLIAMENT TAKES STEP TOWARD ANNEXING WEST BANK
A bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, won preliminary approval from Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday.
There are hundreds of thousands of people living in Jewish settlements across the West Bank. The United Nations and much of the international community consider the settlements illegal under international law.
Israel’s government cites biblical and historical connections to the West Bank, territory that it regards as disputed, and opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The settlements are a highly volatile issue that have for decades loomed as a major obstacle to Middle East peace, as they fragment territory Palestinians want for a viable state.
Wednesday’s vote was the first of four needed to pass the law and coincided with Vance’s visit to Israel – a month after Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the territory.
Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party did not support the legislation, which was sponsored by lawmakers outside his ruling coalition and passed by a vote of 25-24 out of 120 lawmakers.
Netanyahu’s government had been pondering annexation as a response to a string of major Western allies recognising a Palestinian state to put pressure on Israel to stop its war in Gaza, but appeared to shelve the idea after Trump objected.
Settlement building has been expanding rapidly since 2022 when Netanyahu’s government – the most right-wing in Israeli history with ultra-nationalist coalition partners who seek annexation of both the West Bank and Gaza – came to power.
(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Kate Mayberry and Mark Heinrich)
