The Israeli minister promised to annex the West Bank settlements next year News in brief

Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has promised that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank will be annexed next year. He spoke about it on Monday in the country’s parliament.

Annexation refers to the illegal addition of an area to the control of another state.

Smotrich said he ordered preparations to “apply sovereignty” to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank since 1967. The Palestinians consider the area part of their future independent state.

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