Netanyahu Says Discussing Settlement Annexation With U.S.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he has been discussing with the United States possible Israeli annexation of Jewish communities in Yehudah and Shomron.

“On the subject of applying sovereignty, I can say that I have been talking to the Americans about it for some time,” Netanyahu said at a faction meeting of the Likud party.

“I’m guided by two principles in this issue … optimal coordination with the Americans, whose relations with us are a strategic asset for Israel and for the settlements, and it must be a government initiative rather than a private one because it would be a historic move,” he added.

Netanyahu’s remarks come with coalition MKs seeking to advance a bill that would apply Israeli sovereignty over all areas of Jewish communities in Yehudah and Shomron.

But the bid encountered obstacles on Sunday, when the heads of coalition parties pulled the Sovereignty Bill from the agenda of a meeting on the coming week’s legislative timetable.