Israel demands to annex 10% of West Bank amid peace talks

Israel demands to annex 10 percent of the West Bank territories populated by Israeli settlers amid a future peace agreement, while the Palestinians agree to have Israel annex 3 percent only, local Walla! news website reported Thursday. Although the talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been confidential and hidden from the public eye, the website cited Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. officials who were up to date with the negotiations process, which started in July. According to the report, some 70 to 80 percent of the Jewish West Bank settlements will be transferred to Israel, whereas Israel is "willing to give up" control over 90 percent of the West Bank. Israel insists, according to the report, to have under its sovereignty the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem, as well as Ma'ale Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, Ariel, Kdumim, Karnei Shomron and Ma'ale Shomron. The report did not say anything about the status of the east Jerusalem territories, while on Wednesday Israel's municipality in Jerusalem announced 550 more settlement houses are to be built. Israel annexed the West Bank and east Jerusalem territories in the 1967 Mideast War and has since ruled and settled them. Whereas it now demands 10 percent of the West Bank territories while relinquishing 90 percent to the Palestinian government, it had, in the past, demanded to annex 6.5 percent of the occupied territories, back in 2008. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is currently working nonstop to introduce a framework agreement to outline the advance of the peace talks, which have been stuck over Israel's settlements expansion and its stern security agreements.