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A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 17 sepTember 2019
Israeli PM vows to annex 'all the settlements' in West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli the Jordan Valley village of
Prime Minister Benjamin Fasayil on Monday, a day
Netanyahu vowed Mon- after Israel's Cabinet met
day to annex "all the settle- elsewhere in the valley.
ments" in the West Bank, "The Jordan Valley is part
including an enclave deep of Palestinian lands and
in the heart of the largest any settlement or annexa-
Palestinian city, in a last- tion is illegal," Prime Minister
ditch move that appeared Mohammed Shtayyeh said
aimed at shoring up nation- at the start of the meeting.
alist support the day before "We will sue Israel in interna-
a do-over election. tional courts for exploiting
Locked in a razor tight race our land and we will con-
and with legal woes hang- tinue our struggle against
ing over him, Netanyahu is the occupation on the
fighting for his political sur- ground and in international
vival. In the final weeks of forums."
his campaign he has been Critics contend that Netan-
doling out hard-line prom- yahu's pledges, if carried
ises meant to draw more out, would enflame the
voters to his Likud party and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds up a placard given to him as a gift from Israeli Middle East and eliminate
re-elect him in Tuesday's residents of the area, at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, any remaining Palestin-
unprecedented repeat Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. ian hope of establishing a
vote. Associated Press separate state. His political
"I intend to extend sov- rivals have dismissed his talk
ereignty on all the settle- Asked if that included the election this year, after Ne- to annex the Jordan Val- of annexation as an elec-
ments and the (settlement) hundreds of Jews who live tanyahu failed to cobble ley, an area even moder- tion ploy noting that he has
blocs," including "sites that under heavy military guard together a coalition follow- ate Israelis view as strategic refrained from annexing
have security importance amid tens of thousands of ing April's vote, sparking the but which the Palestinians any territory during his more
or are important to Israel's Palestinians in the volatile dissolution of parliament. consider the breadbasket than a decade in power.
heritage," Netanyahu said city of Hebron, Netanyahu Netanyahu has made a of any future state. To pro- Israel captured the West
in an interview with Israeli responded "of course." series of ambitious pledges test that announcement, Bank and east Jerusalem
Army Radio, part of an Israelis head to the polls in a bid to whip up sup- the Palestinian Authority from Jordan in the 1967
eleventh-hour media blitz. Tuesday in the second port, including a promise held a Cabinet meeting in war.q

Leaders of Iran, Russia, Turkey meet over Syria conflict

By SUZAN FRASER tame armed groups in Idlib,
ZEYNEP BILGINSOY have largely failed.
Associated Press Erdogan has warned that
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkey could "open its
leaders of Russia, Iran and gates" and allow Syrians
Turkey met in the Turkish already living in his country
capital, Ankara, on Mon- to flood Western countries if
day to discuss the situa- Turkey is left to shoulder the
tion in Syria, with the aim of refugee burden alone.
halting fighting in the north- Despite divergent interests
western Idlib province and in Syria, Erdogan and Putin
finding a lasting political so- have been building clos-
lution to the country's civil er ties, having met seven
war, now in its ninth year. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media after Friday prayers in Istanbul, times in 2019 alone. Russia
Topping the agenda of the Sept. 13, 2019,after former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced his resignation from Erdo- has delivered two batter-
meeting was the volatile gan's ruling Justice and Development Party. ies of the S-400 surface to
situation in Idlib — the last Associated Press air missile systems to Turkey
remaining rebel stronghold and the two countries are
in Syria. A cease-fire went placed from other parts cep Tayyip Erdogan said countries that stand on op- cooperating on energy
into effect there at the end of the war-torn country, during his opening remarks. posing sides of the conflict. deals. The three leaders
of August, following a wide have moved toward Tur- Erdogan hailed the three Russia and Iran are key would also take up Turk-
four-month offensive by key's border to flee Syrian countries' cooperation allies of Syrian President ish and American plans for
government forces. airstrikes, backed by Russia. on finding a "lasting po- Bashar Assad while Turkey a so-called "safe zone" in
The cease-fire has been Idlib is dominated by the al- litical solution" and Russian backs Syrian rebels seeking northeastern Syria along
holding despite some vio- Qaida-linked group Hayat President Vladimir Putin to oust him. the Turkish border east of
lations that left six people Tahrir al-Sham. said their joint efforts had A major offensive in Idlib the Euphrates River. This
dead last week. A major "We will address first and helped decrease violence was averted last Septem- safe zone is an attempt to
conflict in Idlib has raised foremost the situation on in Syria. But both Putin and ber when Erdogan and meet Turkish demands to
the possibility of a mass ref- the field in Idlib, the devel- Iran's Hassan Rouhani ex- Putin agreed in the Russian push away from the border
ugee flow to Turkey, which opments east of the Eu- pressed concern over Idlib, resort town of Sochi to set U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish
already hosts 3.6 million Syr- phrates, the stage reached warning that it should not up a demilitarized zone in forces that Ankara consid-
ian refugees. in the political process and be a haven for "terrorists." Idlib and open two major ers terrorists, alleging they
Hundreds of thousands of the issue of Syrian refu- Monday's talks are the fifth highways. Those plans, as have ties to a Kurdish insur-
Syrians, some already dis- gees," Turkish President Re- trilateral meeting among well as a Turkish pledge to gency within Turkey. q