Netanyahu Erases West Bank, Marking it as Israeli Territory
![Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank to address the media [Screenshot/Anadolu]](https://en.minanews.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_20240904_074952.jpg)
Tel Aviv, MINA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank, marking it as Israeli territory, in an address to the media on Monday, Middle East Monitor reports.
The Israeli premier appeared standing in front of a wall-sized digital map that obliterated the West Bank. Palestinians decried the move as an explicit annexation of the occupied territory by Tel Aviv.
Speaking about the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, Netanyahu used a map which showed the entirety of the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as being annexed to Israel and only had the Gaza Strip outlined.
Israel has refused to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor, claiming it is a lifeline to Hamas, arguing that occupying it would “cut off the oxygen” to the Palestinian resistance group.
“The Philadelphia Route that separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt should not be evacuated. If Israel relinquishes control,” Netanyahu said, “Gaza will turn into a terror enclave.”
“The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi Route, and for that reason, we must control the Philadelphia Route. Hamas insists on not having us there, and for that reason, I insist that we must be there,” he added.
“Netanyahu’s map reveals the truth of the colonial and racist agendas of the extremist right-wing government,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Netanyahu continues and repeatedly uses a map that includes the West Bank as part of the occupation state, in clear and explicit recognition of this racist colonial crime, and disregard of international legitimacy and its resolutions, international will for peace and the signed agreements,” the ministry said.
This is not the first time Israeli officials have used maps which do not demarcate the occupied Palestinian territories. Since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza, numerous celebrities and officials have been seen wearing necklaces of the outline of all of Mandate Palestine, which they claim as Israel. While occupation soldiers deployed in Gaza have worn a uniform badge depicting a map of Greater Israel.
In September 2023, Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly holding a map of ‘The New Middle East’ with Palestine completely erased.
Months earlier, in March of the same year, far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, addressed an event in Paris while standing by a map of ‘Greater Israel’, portraying Jordan as part of the self-proclaimed Jewish State. (T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
