TEL AVIV, November 11. /TASS/. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he ordered preparations for potential annexation of some West Bank areas in 2025 due to Donald Trump’s win in US presidential election.

Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, has a role at the country’s Defense Ministry to oversee Israeli settlements.

"In his first term, President Trump took significant steps, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and preparing a decision on the legality and legitimacy of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the Israeli names for the West Bank - TASS). We were a step away from declaring Israeli sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria, and now the time has come to do so. I have ordered the Defense Ministry's Directorate of Settlements and the Israeli Civil Administration [in the West Bank] to begin comprehensive professional preparatory work to create the necessary infrastructure for the application of sovereignty, as 2025 should be the year of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," he said, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported.

In January 2020, Trump announced key provisions of the so-called deal of the century, a plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement that was based on mutual recognition of the two states. The clauses included recognizing Israeli sovereignty over existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

In December 2016, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 demanding a halt to Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories. Israel refused to comply.