Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday Tel Aviv’s intention to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank territory, emphasizing the need to “prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, made the remarks during a press conference alongside settlement leaders in the West Bank.

He said, “We do not want to manage the lives of our enemies; sovereignty will be applied to 82% of the land” in the West Bank.

He added, “The Samaria Arabs (Palestinians) will manage their lives through the Palestinian Authority, and later we will work on forming a different leadership.”

“They will continue managing their lives – and the land will be ours,” he said.

Smotrich also stated, “We do not want to apply our sovereignty over a people seeking to destroy us,” according to his expressions.

He continued, “The basic principle for applying sovereignty is the maximum land area with the minimum number of Arabs.”

“We will maintain a clear Jewish majority and Israel will remain Jewish. We have worked on this, and sovereignty will be applied to 82% of the land,” he added.

Smotrich said it is “time to apply Israeli sovereignty (annexation) over Judea and Samaria (the biblical names for the West Bank), and end the division of this small land.”

He added that “the political role of sovereignty is to ensure that no Arab state is established. The establishment of a Palestinian state must be prevented.”

He warned the Palestinian Authority, saying, “If the Palestinian Authority dares to raise its head and threaten us, we will destroy it as we do with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

Smotrich called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to expedite the annexation decision.

Addressing Netanyahu, he said, “Gather the government and make a historic decision to impose sovereignty over all open areas in Judea and Samaria.”

There are expectations that Israel will make the annexation decision if Western countries, including France, Britain, Australia, Canada, and Belgium, fulfill their promises to recognize the State of Palestine during the United Nations meetings this month.

In preparation for annexation, Israel has intensified crimes in the West Bank since it began its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, including home demolitions, displacement of Palestinians, land confiscations, and accelerating settlement construction.

Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank would eliminate the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state, implementing the two-state solution principle (Palestinian and Israeli) endorsed by UN resolutions.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including killing, starving, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring international calls and International Court of Justice orders to stop.

This genocide has resulted in 63,633 Palestinian deaths, 160,914 injuries, mostly women and children, over 9,000 missing persons, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine that killed 367 Palestinians including 131 children.

For decades, Israel has occupied Palestine and lands in Syria and Lebanon, refusing to withdraw and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on pre-1967 borders.