<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish government condemned this Thursday the Israeli Parliament's approval, in its preliminary reading, of the bill to annex and implement Israel's full sovereignty in the West Bank.</strong></h4> "The bill, despite not yet having legal validity, is contrary to international law and, in particular, to the July 19, 2024, Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, which determines that the occupation is illegal," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Furthermore, it warned, "the initiative in the Knesset is contrary to the spirit of the US peace plan, which has opened an opportunity to achieve lasting peace in the region, and to the principles enshrined in the New York Declaration for the implementation of the two-state solution." Likewise, the Government of Spain "reiterates its condemnation of the expansion of settlements, which are illegal under international law, and of any initiative to impede the implementation of the two-state solution, the only path to lasting peace in the region." "In this regard," the statement concludes, "it expresses its deep concern about the situation in the West Bank, with the unpunished violence of settlers, military operations, and the public strategy of settlement expansion, all of which are obstacles to achieving peace and security." The Israeli Parliament approved this Wednesday, by a very narrow margin of 25 votes in favor and 24 against, a bill presented by far-right MP Avi Mazo, leader of the Noam party (which does not belong to the coalition government), calling for the State of Israel to apply "its laws and sovereignty to the settlement areas in Judea and Samaria, in order to establish the status of these areas as an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel." Almost all Likud MKs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, voted against the proposal. Only one, Yuli Edelstein, dissented, whose vote allowed the initiative to move forward. The text has been approved in a preliminary reading and must now go to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for deliberation, before undergoing a second and third vote in the plenary session. If passed, the initiative would violate one of the points of the peace plan promoted by US President Donald Trump, which expressly prohibits Israel from annexing the West Bank. The vote coincided with the visit to Israel of US Vice President J.D. Vance. Before leaving the United States for Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recalled that Trump had "made it clear" that the United States would not support the bill voted on in the Knesset because it poses "a threat to the peace agreement."
