Cavusoglu suggested in a tweet on Sunday that Netanyahu was seeking to lure votes with such a promise.
“West Bank is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in violation of int’l law,” Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s irresponsible statement to seek votes just before the Israeli general elections cannot and will not change this fact.”
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin criticized Netanyahu’s political ambitions, noting that they are undermining the attempts to have a mutual solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“Yet another example of how Netanyahu uses electoral politics to justify occupation and undermine the two-state solution. If he is re-elected, will this be a triumph of ‘democracy’ or occupation?” he tweeted.
Omer Celik, a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, also noted that Netanyahu’s promise violates United Nations Security Council resolutions, stating that it “not only transgresses the law, but it also attempts to completely destroy it,” cited by PressTV.
READ MORE: 'It Won't Happen': Netanyahu Says Palestinian State Will Not Be Created
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was planning to extend Israeli sovereignty over settlements in the occupied West Bank territories if he wins another term in the upcoming elections, scheduled for 9 April.
In 1947, the United Nations worked out a plan to put an end to the conflict, giving most of the West Bank and Gaza to Palestine. However, Israel seized the then Jordan-controlled West Bank along with East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1980, the Israeli parliament adopted the Jerusalem Law proclaiming the entire city as Israel’s undivided capital. The international community does not recognize the annexation and believes the status of Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements requires mutual agreement with the Palestinians.
