Palestinians protest

 Jerusalem

Thousands of Palestinians protested yesterday in Gaza against Israel’s West Bank annexation plans, as premier Benjamin Netanyahu held off an announcement on the controversial project and international opposition stiffened. Netanyahu’s centre-right coalition government had set July 1 as the date from which it could begin implementing US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace proposal.

With no announcement currently scheduled on Israel’s self-imposed kick-off date, opponents of the plan -- notably Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza -- were mobilising. Several thousand brandished Palestinian flags and placards condemning Trump at a rally in Gaza City, while demonstrations were building in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho.

“The resistance must be revived,” Gaza protester Rafeeq Inaiah said. “Israel is afraid of force.” The Trump plan, unveiled in January, offered a path for Israel to annex territory and Jewish West Bank settlements, communities considered illegal under international law.

Netanyahu has voiced enthusiastic support for the Trump plan -- which has been roundly rejected by the Palestinians -- but the right-wing premier has not revealed his intentions for enacting the US proposals. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, launched some 20 test rockets from the coastal Palestinian enclave into the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday, a move aimed at dissuading Israel from moving forward, Hamas sources told said.

Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, says that Israeli annexations in the West Bank, which borders Jordan, would be a “declaration of war”. The Ramallah-based Palestinians Authority has said it is willing to renew long-stalled talks with Israel -- but not on terms outlined by Trump.

Growing global opposition While the US has offered tacit support for immediate annexation, most of the international community is vocally opposed to the project. In a rare criticism of Israel by Australia, the latter’s foreign ministry issued a statement Wednesday warning against “unilateral annexation or change in status of territory on the West Bank”.

France, Germany along with several other European states and the United Nations all oppose annexation, as do Gulf Arab states, with which Israel has increasingly sought warmer ties. Jordan, one of only two Arab nations that has diplomatic ties with Israel, has warned that annexation could trigger a “massive conflict” and has not ruled out reviewing its 1994 peace treaty with the Jewish state.