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(CNN) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to annex parts of the West Bank if he wins re-election next week.
Netanyahu told reporters at a press conference that, if he is re-elected and can form a coalition, he would apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and north of the Dead Sea.
He said he hoped that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, would present his peace plan in the Middle East only a few days after the Israelis voted next Tuesday, September 17, and that in coordination with the United States, he would also seek to apply the sovereignty over all Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Look: US Ambassador says Israel would have the right to annex parts of the West Bank
"[The US plan] poses a great challenge for us and a great opportunity, a historic opportunity to apply sovereignty over settlements in the West Bank and other areas of importance to our heritage," said Netanyahu.
The Jordan Valley constitutes the eastern half of the West Bank and is located on low ground in the valley created by the Jordan River. Israel has always seen it as strategically important due to its long border with Jordan to the east.
Most of the Israeli settlements are not found in the Jordan Valley, but in higher lands west of the territory.
Israel occupied the West Bank of the Jordan in the Six Day War in 1967. The majority of the international community considers it occupied territory and all Israeli settlements built on it as illegal, although Israel denies these characterizations.
Israel West Bank