Turkey blasts Israeli plans to annex West Bank

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Israel's attempts to annex the West Bank from Palestinians show “an extremely dangerous mindset aimed at extorting occupied Palestinian lands," Turkey warned Friday.

"We believe that such grave steps, which would undermine international law and wound the common conscience of humanity, would not be accepted or supported by any member of the international community who has a sense of justice and responsibility," said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy in a written statement.

After forming an emergency unity government on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benn Gantz pledged to move ahead with the West Bank's annexation beginning on July 1, with plans to seize the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements built in Palestinian territory that are illegal under international law.

Palestinian officials have threatened to cancel bilateral agreements with Israel should it move forward with annexation.

Aksoy also urged the international community to "stand against Israel's unilateral illegitimate initiatives" and "embrace the vision of a two-state solution, based on established parameters and the 1967 borders."

He reaffirmed Turkey's support for the people of Palestine’s "righteous cause," adding that "peace will not come to the Middle East without ending the occupation and annexation policies."

Roughly 650,000 Israeli Jews currently live on more than 100 settlements built since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.