Netanyahu and Gantz at odds over West Bank annexation moves

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main coalition partner, Benny Gantz, signalled his opposition on Monday to advancing a plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians want to establish a state.

Netanyahu has said he intends to extend Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley, as envisaged by a blueprint announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in January under which Israel would control of 30% of the West Bank.

International opposition has mounted in the past few weeks, with Palestinian leaders, the United Nations, European powers and Arab countries allied with Israel all denouncing any annexation of land that Israeli forces captured in a 1967 war.