Jerusalem, September 11 (RHC)-- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to annex parts of the West Bank if he wins re-election next week.  Netanyahu told reporters at a press conference that, if re-elected and able to form a coalition, he would apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea.

The Zionist leader said he expected U.S. President Donald Trump to present his Middle East peace plan just days after Israelis vote next Tuesday, September 17th, and that in co-ordination with Washington, he would also look to apply sovereignty over all Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Netanyahu said that the U.S. plan "poses a great challenge for us and a great opportunity, a historic opportunity to apply sovereignty over settlements in the West Bank and other areas of importance to our heritage."  He noted that the Jordan Valley makes up the eastern half of the West Bank and lies on low ground in the valley created by the Jordan river.  Israel has always viewed it as strategically important because of its long border with Jordan to the east.

Most of the illegal Israeli settlements are not located in the Jordan Valley, but on higher ground to the west of the territory.  The West Bank was captured from Jordan by Israel in the Six Day War in 1967.  Most of the international community regards it as occupied territory and all Israeli settlements built on it as illegal.