Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins the upcoming general election.
His comments come just days before the closely-fought April 9 poll and could be seen as an appeal to right-wing voters, who do not believe in the feasibility of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
"I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he said in an interview with Channel 12 television.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 12 News on Saturday evening that he will start extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. Source: Sputnik
Settlements built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War are deemed illegal by the international community and their ongoing construction is seen as a major barrier to peace.
Annexation could prove to be the death knell for the two-state solution.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's statement on annexation was "not surprising."
"Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity, particularly with the Trump administration's support," he said on Twitter.
In a last-minute appeal to right-wing voters, Netanyahu said Saturday he was planning on annexing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins.
The deeply controversial move could end hopes for a two-state solution with the
More than 400,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements as part of Israel's military occupation of the territory, where more than 2.5 million Palestinians live.
A further 200,000 Israelis live in settlements in occupied east Jerusalem, over which Israel has already implemented full sovereignty.
Netanyahu is fighting for his political life while facing a dual threat in this year's election.
The possibility of indictment hangs over him while a centrist alliance headed by political novice Benny Gantz is battling his Likud neck-and-neck in opinion polls.
Some surveys have shown that Netanyahu's party could win fewer seats than Gantz's Blue and White, but still be best placed to form a governing coalition based on support from other right-wing parties allied to him.
US President Donald Trump (L) and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. The decision will effectively kill off hope of a two state policy. Source: AAP
Through much of the acrimonious campaign, polls have shown Likud and Blue and White with around 30 seats each in the 120-seat parliament - far short of an outright majority and necessitating a coalition, as is usual in Israel.
Netanyahu heads what is already seen as the most right-wing government in Israel's history, and if polling trends hold, his next coalition could be even further to the right.
Palestinian protesters seek cover from tear gas during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank region. Source: AP
But analysts caution against drawing conclusions just yet, pointing to the number of undecided voters and the possibility that smaller rightwing parties fail to win the 3.25 percent required to enter parliament.
"The Likud bloc seems to have a majority," said Gideon Rahat of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank.
sraeli authorities inspect the scene, where a Palestinian person was shot, for evidence in Huwara village, near the West Bank city of Nablus. Source: AP
But "it still can change because opinion polls cannot really tell you whether a party will pass the threshold".
Essential statesman?
Victory seemed sure for Netanyahu when he decided in December to call for early elections even though they were not due until November 2019.
The move by the 69-year-old known for his deft political skills was widely seen as a tactic to face the corruption allegations with a fresh electoral mandate behind him.
But since then, Gantz has emerged as a serious contender.
He has been helped by his decision to ally with two other former military chiefs as well as with ex-finance minister Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party, which currently holds 11 seats in parliament.
The attorney general's announcement in February that he intends to indict Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending a hearing gave the premier's opponents a further boost.
Benjamin Netanyahu is locked in a political fight for life. Source: AAP
Netanyahu has employed divisive populism throughout the campaign in what critics say has amounted to the demonisation of Arab Israelis and others.
Citing a law passed last year declaring Israel the nation state of the Jewish people, he said recently the country was "not a state of all its citizens".
He has also brokered a deal that could see the entry into parliament of a member of an extreme-right party many view as racist.
But he has bet on his experience as well, portraying himself as Israel's essential statesman, while denouncing Gantz's alliance as leftist and "weak" despite its security credentials and the fact that many of its policy ideas are similar to his.
In the weeks ahead of the election, the prime minister has met with his close ally US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
'No leader is king'
Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, as well as Putin's help in returning the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since the 1982 Lebanon war, have played in his favour.
"What is important is who leads, the diplomatic navigator," Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday.
"I'm working against Israel's greatest enemies. They aren't."
Israel goes to the polls this week. Source: The New York Times
Voters could again be drawn to the right-wing leadership of a man some have referred to as "King Bibi" due to his long tenure at the top, using his nickname since childhood.
Gantz, a former paratrooper who was armed forces chief of staff from 2011-2015, has highlighted his security background while offering a centrist vision on social issues.
He has argued that he can heal divisions he says Netanyahu has exacerbated.
"I do think that the time for him to end his job in a dignified manner has arrived," Gantz said in a recent interview.
When launching his campaign, he said: "No Israeli leader is a king."
With the election expected to be close, much will likely depend on post-poll negotiations to form a coalition.
"Whatever the results are, the formation of a coalition will probably be the most complicated one since 1961," said political scientist Abraham Diskin, referring to when it took David Ben-Gurion months to form a government.
More than six million Israelis are eligible to vote in Tuesday's polls.
