20190517 Marzouq
Kuwait Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al Ghanem Image Credit: KUNA

Cairo: Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley must be countered by a “firm” stance, head of Kuwait’s parliament Marzouq Al Ghanem has said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayhu has unveiled the annexation plan under a controversial US peace deal, triggering wide Arab and Western opposition. Israeli officials have noted that the annexation will take place in July despite stern warnings from the Palestinians.

“Israeli recalcitrance in going ahead with the invalid measures of annexing the Jordan Valley must be countered by practical Arab and international stances translating the international community’s categorical rejections of ignoring international legitimacy resolutions, especially those pertaining to the lands occupied by Israel in 1967,” Al-Ghanem said in media remarks.

He praised Arab, Islamic and foreign stances voicing rejection of the planned annexation.

“It is important for Arabs to coordinate with international partners, who have expressed their rejection of this unilateral arrogant step,” he added.

“On behalf of my colleagues, members of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, we affirm our full rejection of such steps and hostile practices and our readiness to work with the Arab and friendly parliaments in every parliamentary continental and international forum to expose the Zionist practices and formulate international public opinion against those practices,” Al-Ghanem said.

The Palestinians envisage statehood in the West Bank, Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

US President Donald Trump has already recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing Washington’s decades-old policy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.