![Party members vote during the Likud Central Committee meeting [Amir Cohen/Reuters]](https://static.srpcdigital.com/styles/1037xauto/public/2018/01/01/likud.jpg.webp)
Likud party unanimously urged on Sunday to effectively annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, knowing that the Israeli parliament started last week examining all drafts before approving them in order to prepare their implementation in Jewish settlements and settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The draft revealed that 50 years after occupying the West Bank and Jerusalem, free-building of settlements must be permitted in addition to imposing full sovereignty and applying Israeli laws. Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Ze'ev Elkin considered the decision a normal response to skeptics of US President DonaldTrump’s decision and the fact that the West Bank is an integral part of ‘Israel’.
Yoav Kisch, head of the Knesset Control Committee, started preparing for an amendment in the basic law in which the Israeli army powers on settlers are abolished and substituted by the civil law. Since 1967 war, Knesset laws weren’t applied directly on the occupied territories but in exceptional cases.
The step of Likud witnessed huge acceleration after Trump's decision to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of ‘Israel’ and after disclosing his intention to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Around 900 signatures were garnered, in participation of Knesset leader and members, on a petition that calls for holding a conference to vote on the draft that suggests annexing all settlements in the West Bank to the Israeli authority and to permit free settlement building.
Within Likud campaign launched as an introduction to the conference, videos were shared of Likud ministers and other high-rank figures urging the center members to be part of this historic moment and to attend on Sunday to vote in favor of the draft.
According to Kisch, he doesn’t expect the US administration to object over the new development during Trump’s term.
