A coalition of U.S. Jewish organizations sent a letter to the leaders of Israel’s political parties, warning them against full or partial annexation of occupied West Bank, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged on September 17, 2019 to annex Jordan Valley, which makes up 30 % of the West Bank area, if he is to be re-elected.
According to liberal advocacy group J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, “carrying out unilateral annexations in the West Bank would ultimately destroy Israeli democracy and lead the country down a disastrous path to permanent conflict.”
The letter stated that if the United States president, Donald Trump, and his administration were to endorse the annexation, Israel should not take this as a sign of long-term American policy.
“Simply put, the approach of this president does not represent the long-term interests and likely future policy of the United States,” the U.S. based Jewish groups warned.
In March 2019, the U.S. ignored a decades-long international consensus and recognized Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The coalition stressed that the annexation could harm Israel’s relations with the U.S. Jewish population, because the “vast majority of American Jews support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Thirteen groups signed the letter, Middle East Monitor reported, including ten members of the Progressive Israel Network – an umbrella coalition that includes J Street and the New Israel Fund.
Edited for IMEMC: Ali Salam
