QUITO: Secretary of state Marco Rubio on Thursday criticised France and other countries moving to recognise a Palestinian state, saying he warned them Israel may respond by annexing the West Bank.
Rubio declined to join global condemnation of efforts by members of the Israeli government to annex the occupied West Bank in hopes of destroying prospects of an independent Palestinian state.
“What you’re seeing with the West Bank and the annexation, that’s not a final thing – that’s something being discussed among some elements of Israeli politics. I’m not going to opine on that today,” Rubio told reporters in Ecuador.