Israel’s parliament has voted to give preliminary approval to a bill to impose Israeli sovereignty on the occupied West Bank, in a move tantamount to annexation of the Palestinian territory, which would be a blatant violation of international law.

Despite opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset voted 25-24 on Tuesday to advance the bill, in the first of four votes needed to pass it into law.

A Knesset statement said the bill was approved in a preliminary reading “to apply the sovereignty of the State of Israel to the territories of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)”. It will now go to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee for further deliberations.

The vote, which came a month after US President Donald Trum

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