UPDATE - US vice president rules out West Bank annexation by Israel, calls Knesset vote ‘stupid political stunt’

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Betul Yilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) – US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday ruled out Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, calling a Knesset vote for annexing the occupied territory “a stupid political stunt.”

“If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance told reporters in Tel Aviv.

“The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy,” he added.

Vance said that he was told that the Knesset voting was “a symbolic vote.”

“If people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren't happy about it,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading two bills to annex the West Bank and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc. Both drafts still must pass three additional readings to become law.

Annexing the West Bank would effectively end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as outlined in UN resolutions.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

- Gaza reconstruction

Regarding the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan, Vance said some parts of the enclave with no Hamas presence can be rebuilt “quickly.”

“We can actually have tens of thousands of Gazans moving into southern Gaza, where you have the Hamas free zone, in the next couple of months,” he said.

“I think the hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years. And theoretically, you can have half a million people live in a rebuilt Rafah,” the vice president added.

Vance said “a lot of progress” was made regarding the understandings of the composition of an international task force in Gaza.

“No American troops on the ground,” he said, but rather they will be “supervising and mediating the peace.”

The vice president arrived in Israel on Tuesday for a three-day visit to oversee the implementation of the truce that came into force on Oct. 10 in Gaza and discuss the second phase of Trump’s plan with senior Israeli officials.

Phase one included the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

Since October 2023, the Israeli genocidal war has killed over 68,200 people and injured more than 170,300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.