Israeli Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu, from the Otzma Yehudit party, called for the annexation of the West Bank, and to do so "as soon as possible."

Eliyahu said, during an interview with Israeli Army Radio this Wednesday morning, that "sovereignty must also be applied in the West Bank, and it must be enhanced wisely as much as possible, and we must start by saying that everywhere to create international recognition that this place belongs to us."

Eliyahu added that "there is really no such thing as the Green Line, and it is an imaginary line, and there is a distorted reality there that we need to erase."

The U.S. administration and several Gulf countries have expressed concern over the statements made by senior government officials regarding the issue, affirming that such statements inflame feelings of anger among Palestinians and the Arab world.