Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has missed his self-imposed target date for annexation of occupied Palestinian territories, as France warned of “consequences” and Boris Johnson made an appeal to Israel to reconsider the move in an article in the Hebrew media.
Johnson, who described himself in the opinion piece as a “passionate defender of Israel”, said any annexation would be a “violation of international law”, adding the UK would not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders in the West Bank that were not agreed by both Israelis and Palestinians.
An Israeli cabinet minister and confidant of Netanyahu, Ofir Akunis, confirmed the annexation process would not begin on Wednesday, telling Israel’s Army Radio that officials were still working out the final details with their US counterparts. He insisted, however, that he still expected the annexation to take place later in July.
Akunis said coordination with the Trump administration could not be dismissed. In January the US put forward a plan to bring up to a third of the West Bank under direct Israeli control and leave Palestinians with limited autonomy in pockets of the remaining land.
