VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Israel's re-election to take place next week on September 17 evokes international reaction. Ahead of the election, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu promises to annex the West Bank which has been known as the Palestinian territory, as if he wanted to explore anyone who agrees and disagrees with this problem. This also shows that he is not alone with the planned annexation of the area.    

The West Bank as PM Netanyahu mentions is known by the name ‘Judea’ and ‘Samaria’ which are part of the territory of the Palestinian state, west of the Jordan River. The West Bank and Gaza Strip are part of the Palestinian territories declared in 1988. It is estimated that around 65 thousand Palestinians and 11 thousand Israelis live in the region.Indonesia and Arab countries strongly criticized PM Netanyahu's statement. The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that PM Netanyahu's promise is contrary to international law and various UN resolutions. This will obviously threaten the follow-up of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Saudi Arabia views that Prime Minister Netanyahu's plan is an escalation of dangerous tensions. Member countries of Islamic Conference Organization -OIC will hold a special meeting in Jeddah to discuss the threat of PM Netanyahu on 15th of September. On one hand, Jordan views Prime Minister Netanyahu's promise to trigger violent conflict in the Middle East. On the other hand, the European Union says that it would not recognize any changes relating to Jerusalem. The European Union believes that settlement construction and expansion in East Jerusalem is a violation of international law. In contrast, since last June, the United States through its Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman mentioned that Israel has the rights to annex the West Bank, Palestine.Apart from the strong international reaction, PM Netanyahu is actually facing panic with domestic political situation in Israel. After being re-elected as prime minister of Israel through the April 9 elections, it turned out that within the given deadline, PM Benyamin Netanyahu failed to form a new government, because it failed to reach a coalition agreement. This would threaten his position as Israeli prime minister. Raising sensitive issue in the campaign and evoking international reaction were an attempt by PM Netanyahu to win the re-election even though many said it was like rowing in the middle of the ocean with a leaky boat.