US Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a vote in Israel's parliament the previous day about the annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an “insult” and went against the Trump administration policies.
Hard-liners in the Israeli parliament had narrowly passed a symbolic preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank — an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in the country.
The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house on Wednesday, passed with a 25-24 vote. But it was unlikely to pass multiple rounds of voting to become law or win a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu, who is opposed to it, also has tools to delay or defeat it.
On the tarmac of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport before departing Israel, Vance said that if the Knesset's vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”
“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
Netanyahu is struggling to stave off early elections as cracks between factions in the right-wing parties, some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel, grow more apparent, The AP news reported.
While many members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including the Likud, support annexation, they have backed off those calls since US President Donald Trump said last month that he opposes such a move.
The Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state. Israeli annexation of the West Bank would all but bury hopes for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians — the outcome supported by most of the world.
Gaza's reconstruction and Palestinians' return Vance also unveiled new details about US plans for Gaza, saying he expected reconstruction to begin soon in some “Hamas-free” areas of the territory but warning that rebuilding territory after a devastating two-year war could take years.
“The hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years and theoretically you could have half a million people live (there),” he said.
The war caused widespread destruction across the coastal Palestinian enclave. The United Nations in July estimated that the war generated some 61 million tons of debris in Gaza. The World Bank, the UN and the European Union estimated earlier this year that it would cost about $53 billion to rebuild.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed at least 68,280 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.
Intense US push toward peace.
Earlier this week, Vance announced the opening of a civilian military coordination center in southern Israel where some 200 US troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries planning the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.
