Palestinians tilling the fertile Jordan Valley said on Wednesday they have been ...
JIFTLIK, West Bank - Palestinians tilling the fertile Jordan Valley said on Wednesday they have been rooted for generations to the West Bank land that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to annex, and they vowed never to give it up.
The office of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the plan “would constitute a serious violation of international law.” In Israel, which captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, Netanyahu’s declaration was widely seen as a bid to sap support from far-right election rivals who advocate annexation of Jewish settlements, and from a center-left that for decades has argued that the Jordan Valley should be kept on security grounds.
Netanyahu’s decision to make the promise showed that he had little reason to fear any pushback from the Trump administration, which has hewed to a heavily pro-Israel policy and backed Trump at almost every turn since he took office in 2017.Some 53,000 Palestinians and around 12,800 Israeli settlers live in the Jordan Valley, according to monitor Peace Now. The main Palestinian city in the region is Jericho, with around 28 villages and smaller Bedouin communities.
The valley, which at 2,400 square kilometers accounts for nearly 30% of the West Bank, has dozens of Palestinian farms as well as open areas that the Palestinian Authority has sought to develop for solar energy projects and industrial zones.
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