Israel plans West Bank annex after ‘deal of century’

By Hamdi Yildiz

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel’s prime minister said his government has begun editing West Bank maps to include areas his country plans to annex.

The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump released a “deal” to end the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu said lands that will be part of Israel are at the mapping stage and sovereignty will be applied to all land covered by the map, according to daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Netanyahu said the new map will cover all the illegitimate settlements in the West Bank and the Agvar region.

But Nabil spokesman for the Palestinian Authority president, Nabil Labu Ruedina, said the map of Palestine is recognized globally, according to United Nations resolutions.

"We will not have any relationship with any other map," he said and indicated the current map belongs to the state dating June 4, 1967, whose capital is East Jerusalem.

Ruedina said it is the only map that will provide stability and peace in the region and the world.

Trump’s so-called "deal of the century" was announced Jan. 28. It refers to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank.

The plan has drawn widespread criticism from the Arab world and was rejected by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which urged "all member states not to engage with this plan or to cooperate with the U.S. administration in implementing it in any form."

Leaders of the Muslim bloc reiterated a need for a just and comprehensive solution that protects the rights of Palestinians.