Arab nations have condemned a plan by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to annex part of the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday Mr Netanyahu pledged to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea if he is returned to office following a general election next week.
Officials in Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia sharply criticised the announcement.
The chief Palestinian negotiator said the move would be “manifestly illegal”.
The annexation proposed by Mr Netanyahu would be a “war crime” that would “bury any chance of peace”, Saeb Erekat said.
The Arab League, meanwhile, denounced “the dangerous development” as “aggression”.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 but has stopped short of annexation.
Palestinians claim the whole of the area for a future independent state. Mr Netanyahu previously insisted Israel would always retain a presence in the Jordan Valley for security purposes.
Mr Netanyahu, who was campaigning for the election, unveiled the plan in a televised address.
He also said he would annex all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but this would need to wait until the publication of US President Donald Trump’s long-awaited plan for a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
“There is one place where we can apply Israeli sovereignty immediately after the elections,” Mr Netanyahu said about the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea.
BBC
