Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that Israel’s plan to apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria could ignite “a religious war in and beyond our region.”
“If implemented, Israeli annexation plans would not only be detrimental to the chances of peace today but will destroy any prospects for peace in the future,” said Gheit, according to The Associated Press.
“Palestinians will lose faith in a negotiated solution, I’m afraid Arabs too will lose interest in regional peace. A new dark reality will set in vis a vis this conflict and in the region at large,” he added.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the UN Security Council, “Should Israel decide to extend its sovereignty, it would be doing so with respect to areas over which it has always maintained a legitimate historical and legal claim,” according to the report.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki threatened that “we will stop acting as the Palestinian Authority” the moment Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares “the annexation of one centimeter or 30 percent of the West Bank.”
The PA foreign minister expressed his hope that the United States would stop Israel from moving forward with its sovereignty plan.
“We hope that the Trump administration will give clear instructions to Netanyahu not to go ahead with annexation, and to open up the opportunity for potential resumption of negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” said Maliki, according to the report.
Netanyahu has said he plans to start implementing Israel’s sovereignty plan beginning in July.