The reason why Netanyahu is ready to torpedo peace in the Middle East

Continuing his weekly series about the complexities of the Middle East, Ahmed Aboudouh looks at Israel’s controversial plan to annex the Jordan Valley

Benjamin Netanyahu faces an election battle this week (EPA)

The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he would annexe the Jordan Valley – a large swathe of the occupied West Bank – if he gets re-elected has prompted a mixture of outrage and concern from the international community and his rivals in Israel, who consider the plan to be no more than an election stunt.

Netanyahu, the head of the right-wing Likud party, is neck and neck in the polls with his centrist rivals ahead of the general election, which is due on Tuesday. The Jordan Valley is in effect under Israeli control according to the Oslo Accord, signed between the Palestinians and Israel in 1993 as a framework to draw a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Why is Netanyahu announcing this now?