Israel has no right to occupy or annex the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, according to American political analyst Stephen Lendman.
On Saturday, United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the New York Times that the Tel Aviv regime had the right to annex at least “some” of the occupied West Bank.
Lendman, an author and political commentator based in Chicago, said international law explains the Palestinian territories were illegally occupied by the Tel Avivi regime in past decades and the Israelis had no right to annex them.
“The territories are illegally occupied as international law explains and Israel has no right to occupy or annex them, “Lendman told Press TV in a phone interview on Saturday.
“The occupied territories are done illegally. Israel has no right to do this,” Lendman said.
“For Friedman, or anybody else, to say otherwise is absolutely false, and very offensive,” Lendman said.
He pointed out that the peace talks would not succeed as long as the occupation continued. “There will never be peace in the Middle East as long as Israel occupies the territories. There will never be peace anywhere in the Middle East, if this happens,” he said.
“People like Friedman support these kinds of things,” according to Lendman who is the author of numerous books and articles, and also hosts a radio talk show.
Lendman also censured the so-called Trump “Deal of the Century” for peace in the Middle East, describing it as “Palestine’s unilateral surrender to Israel’s demands, including turning over the West Bank and all the territory in it Israel wants for its own control.”