U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has reportedly stated that “Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.”
In an interview from his Jerusalem residence with the New York Times, Ambassador Friedman asserted that “under certain circumstances” the Jewish State would have the right to annex parts of the disputed territory, although he failed to indicate how the United States would react to such a move. The statement comes in response to a campaign pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he vowed to annex parts of the Biblical districts of Judea and Samaria two out of three internationally disputed territories that makeup the commonly known West Bank region) to modern-day Israel.
In response to TV7’s request for comment an unnamed U.S. State Department official said in a written statement, “The administration’s position on settlements has not changed. No plan for unilateral annexation by Israel of any portion of the West Bank has been presented by Israel to the U.S., nor is it under discussion.” No further details were available regarding Israel’s intentions about potentially annexing part of the West Bank, as the Prime Minister’s Spokesman refused to respond to the report.