Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 25, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleTrump rejects Israel's West Bank annexation, citing international pressure and potential consequences amid ongoing tensions.
By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, rejecting calls from some far-right politicians in Israel who want to extend sovereignty over the area and snuff out hopes for a viable Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced some pressure from allies to annex the West Bank, prompting alarm among Arab leaders, some of whom met on Tuesday with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
"I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It's not going to happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"There's been enough. It's time to stop now," he said.
Trump made the comments as Netanyahu was arriving in New York to deliver an address to the United Nations on Friday.
Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's remarks.Israeli settlements have grown in size and number since Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war. They stretch deep into the territory with a system of roads and other infrastructure under Israeli control, further slicing up the land.
A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan known as the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval in August. It will cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state.
Trump met leaders and officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan on Tuesday to discuss the nearly two-year-long war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Arab and Muslim countries warned him about the grave consequences of any annexation of the West Bank -- a message the U.S. president "understands very well," according to Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud.
About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized by most countries.
Israel refuses to cede control of the West Bank, a position it says has been reinforced since the Hamas-led militant attack on its territory, launched on Gaza October 7, 2023.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Michelle Nichols; writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Franklin Paul, Caitlin Webber and Diane Craft)
The West Bank is a landlocked territory located in the Middle East, bordered by Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. It is a significant area in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli settlements are communities established by Israel on land it occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War, including the West Bank. These settlements are often a source of tension in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Annexation is the formal act of acquiring territory by a state, often through military force or legislation. In the context of the West Bank, it refers to Israel's claim over the territory.
The United Nations plays a mediating role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, promoting peace initiatives, providing humanitarian aid, and supporting resolutions aimed at achieving a two-state solution.
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