Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that if re-elected, he would annex all Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Israelis head to the polls on Tuesday and the chief executive is competing for votes with far-right parties that support the idea of annexing part of the West Bank.
The settlements there are illegal, according to international law, although Israel does not accept this. Last month, the United States recognized the Golan Heights, taken from Syria in 1967, as Israeli territory, prompting an immediate reaction from the Arab League and the UN itself.
There are about 400,000 Jews settled in West Bank settlements and another 200,000 live in East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, nearly 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank.
The latter want to create their own independent state in this occupied territory, in eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and the presence of Jewish settlements, according to them, makes it impossible to realize such a wish.
Israel, on the other hand, says that the Palestinians are using the settlement issue as a pretext to avoid peace talks. Netanyahu's comments are considered potentially explosive on an issue that has become an obstacle to the peace process for years.
