ANKARA

France Wednesday condemned Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call to annex the occupied West Bank.

“France condemns the recent remarks of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in favor of the annexation of the West Bank by Israel,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It recalled that those remarks were “against international law and the efforts that aim a de-escalation of the regional tensions.”

On Monday, Smotrich said he instructed Israel’s Settlement Division and Civil Administration to initiate the groundwork for infrastructure to “apply sovereignty” in the West Bank.

The ministry stressed France’s commitment to the implementation of “the two-state solution” for Israel and Palestine to live “in peace and security,” and noted that this would be the “only” way to a “just and durable” solution.

This June, the far-right politician confirmed reports from The New York Times that he had a “secret plan” to annex the West Bank and thwart any efforts to incorporate it into a future Palestinian state.

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark opinion that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Middle East peace plan

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to reintroduce the annexation of the West Bank to the agenda of his government when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

In 2020, Netanyahu planned to "annex" the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, based on the so-called Middle East peace plan announced by Trump in January of the same year.

Territories Netanyahu planned to annex at that time constitute about 30% of the West Bank. His plan, however, was not launched under international pressure and lack of US approval.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday that Paris denounces “the policy encouraged by this minister … that is to continue the illegal activity in terms of international law, which is colonization, aggressive colonization of the West Bank.”

Smotrich was supposed to attend a gala in Paris on Wednesday at the invitation of the Israel Forever Foundation, but canceled his trip.

A French court rejected last week a request to cancel the gala with the participation of Smotrich despite opposition from multiple rights groups and lawmakers.