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Israel's parliament called for the annexation of all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a non-binding resolution that still comes as a rejection of international efforts to recognize Palestinian statehood as part of peacekeeping efforts.
The motion, which passed by a 71-13 vote on Wednesday, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to designate the settlements - which most world powers consider illegal - as falling under Israeli sovereignty. About 500,000 Israelis have set up home in the West Bank alongside 3 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu voted in favor of the resolution but gave no indication of whether it would be implemented.
While the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has grabbed much of the global attention in the last two years, the West Bank has also been the site of hostilities since the October 2023 attacks by Hamas that triggered the ongoing conflict. While never in favor of Palestinian sovereignty, Israel's government has doubled down on its opposition since the war began, lest this encourage Islamist groups committed to Israel's destruction.
"Today's vote is only symbolic," said Avital Friedman, of the Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think-tank. "A motion of this nature simply signals the views of the members of Knesset who vote for it."
Annexation of the widely scattered settlements would bring the Israeli residents under civilian government but leave a question around the status of the non-citizen Palestinian majority there.
Trump recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights in Syria in 2019, but has not explicitly said he would do the same for the West Bank.
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