Supporters of Israel's decades-old settlement enterprise in the occupied Palestinian territories have been quick to welcome Donald Trump's recent U.S. election victory and what they clearly expect will be a boon to their aim of formally annexing the West Bank.

Arab Americans and liberal Jewish voters, however, have ample reason to fear the naming of pro-settlement, pro-Netanyahu officials to top foreign policy posts in the new administration.

The West Bank has seen escalating violence since Oct. 7, with Israeli soldiers pursuing militants in residential areas and Jewish settlers mounting attacks on Palestinians in land grabs. Elizabeth Palmer looks at what President-elect Donald Trump's election victory and his selection of Mike Huckabee for U.

These measures part of larger plan to implement ‘spatial division’ of West Bank, facilitating expansion of Israeli settlements, says Foreign Ministry - Anadolu Ajansı

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Donald Trump’s election victory has triggered a renewed push by some in Israel’s right-wing government to annex the occupied West Bank, an idea that is seen as illegal by most of the international community and could threaten Israel’s relations with its Arab allies.

Comments Monday by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich were the strongest display yet of how Trump’s election has emboldened Israeli hard-liners.

The day after the US election, right-wing factions in Israel clearly felt emboldened. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a leader of the 600,000‑strong West Bank Jewish settler movement, told reporters that Donald Trump’s victory gives Israel the chance to impose sovereignty over that area,

Choosing two men with such strong views on the legitimacy of the West Bank settlements at a time when their status is being legally challenged in international courts makes a powerful statement.

Israel could have America’s backing to annex the West Bank under a Trump administration, according to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who President-elect Donald Trump has named to be his ambassador to Israel.