Israel annexation plan: Vatican summons US and Israeli envoys to express concern
The Vatican, in a highly unusual move, summoned both the US and Israeli ambassadors to express the Holy See's concern about Israel's moves to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
A Vatican statement on Wednesday said meetings with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, and US Ambassador Callista Gingrich and Israeli Ambassador Oren David, took place on Tuesday.
A senior diplomatic source told Reuters that Parolin met the two envoys separately, a detail which was not clear in the Vatican statement.
The statement said Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomat, expressed "the concern of the Holy See regarding possible unilateral actions that may further jeopardise the search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the delicate situation in the Middle East".
Israeli leaders decided in May that cabinet and parliamentary deliberations on the annexation, in coordination with the United States, could begin as of 1 July.
But with no agreement with Washington yet on the modalities of the move under a plan announced by US President Donald Trump in January, and talks with the White House still underway, no cabinet session was scheduled for Wednesday.
The Vatican statement reiterated its position in support of a two-state solution, saying: "Israel and the State of Palestine have the right to exist and to live in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders."
The Vatican appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to do everything possible to reopen the process of direct negotiations on the basis of UN resolutions.
In a show of Palestinian unity, some 3,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including members of Fatah, which runs the West Bank, and Hamas, which governs the besieged enclave, protested against the annexation on Wednesday.
International criticism
While the US has offered tacit support for immediate annexation as part of the Trump plan, most of the international community is vocally opposed to the project.
Writing in Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Wednesday, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that although he was a "passionate defender of Israel", he viewed annexation as "contrary to Israel's own long-term interests".
"Annexation would represent a violation of international law," he said.
France and Germany, along with several other European states and the United Nations, all oppose annexation, as do Gulf Arab states, despite increasingly warmer ties with Israel.
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 Israel.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights in moves never recognised by the international community, and has illegally occupied the West Bank and besieged the Gaza Strip.
As Netanyahu has vowed that any Palestinians living in annexed territories would not be granted citizenship, critics have argued that the latest annexation moves would further cement the idea that Israel is an apartheid state.
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