The US secretary of state said moves by Israel’s parliament to annex the occupied West Bank would threaten US plans to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
“That’s not something we can support right now,” Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of U.S. efforts to strengthen the fragile ceasefire agreement.
In an apparent attempt to embarrass the Israeli prime minister, far-right politicians have taken the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill giving Israel the authority to annex the West Bank.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said after completing his visit to Israel, “If it was a political act, it was a very foolish political act and I take the insult personally.”
“The West Bank will not be annexed by Israel,” he told reporters at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
“That will continue to be our policy. If people want to have a symbolic vote, they can do that. But we certainly weren’t happy about that.”
Palestine claims that the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is part of an independent state.
Last year, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, ruled that Israel’s occupation was illegal under international law.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said he supports annexation of the West Bank, but has not moved forward with it because of the risk of alienating the United States, Israel’s most important ally, and Arab countries that have built ties with Israel after decades of hostility.
Ultranationalists in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition have repeatedly called for Israel to fully annex the West Bank, but the bill was introduced by lawmakers outside the government.
The bill passed 25 to 24. It is unclear whether there will be the support to secure a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, and there are ways for the prime minister to delay or defeat it.
The bill will now be debated in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and will need to pass three more readings to become law.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Knesset’s move, saying Israel would not have sovereignty over Palestinian lands.
During its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel built about 160 settlements home to 700,000 Jews. About 3.3 million Palestinians live among them.
This agreement is illegal under international law. This is a position that received support from the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion last year.
As he boarded the plane to Israel, Rubio reiterated America’s opposition to annexation, saying it would be “counterproductive” and “threatening” to the peace agreement.
His visit on Thursday comes hot on the heels of visits by Vance and two U.S. envoys as the Trump administration pushes to begin talks on the second critical phase of a 20-point Gaza peace plan.
The first phase, which includes a ceasefire, partial withdrawal of Israeli troops and an influx of aid, went into effect earlier this month.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the agreement over the deadly incident, but so far it has remained that way.
Rubio expressed similar optimism to Vance about maintaining the ceasefire.
“There will be threats every day, but I think we’re ahead of schedule in terms of actually putting it together, and the fact that we got through this weekend is a good sign,” he said.
The second phase of the peace plan includes establishing an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilization force, withdrawing Israeli troops, and disarmament of Hamas.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
The ensuing conflict has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, a figure the United Nations considers reliable.
