Ramallah, September 12 (RHC)-- When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to annex nearly one-third of the occupied West Bank, reaction was swift and condemnatory.  

Netanyahu’s pledge was widely denounced by leaders in the region, in part because it would crush hopes of an eventual Palestinian state.  Longtime Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the move would add to Israel’s long history of violating international law.

Saeb Erekat told reporters: “What Prime Minister Netanyahu said about asking his people for a mandate to allow that will enable him to annex the Jordan Valley is paramount to a war crime. Annexation of occupied territories is a war crime.”