Israels Netanyahu Sharpens Focus On Settlements Two Days Before Ballot

(Reuters) Jeffrey Heller September 15 2019 14:31 JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up a bid for far-right votes two days before a closely-contested election convening his cabinet in the occupied West Bank and having it approve legal status for an unauthorized outpost. Netanyahus caretaker government met on Sunday in the Jordan Valley a largely agricultural area which he announced on Tuesday that he intends to annex if he wins a fifth term. Israeli cabinets have rarely held sessions in the West Bank. At the meeting the government announced it had approved Netanyahus proposal to turn the outpost of Mevoot Yericho into a formal settlement - 20 years after it was established as a farming community in the Jordan Valley without state sanction. In public remarks at the session Netanyahu said it would be up to the government formed after Tuesdays election to grant final approval. The timing of the cabinets move was widely seen in Israel as another bid by Netanyahu to swing support from small ultra-nationalist parties to his right-wing Likud in an election that follows an inconclusive poll in April. Just days after voicing anger over Netanyahus Jordan Valley annexation plan Palestinians said no Israeli government decision could give legitimacy to settlements in occupied territory. The Palestinian people are the only decision-makers on their land said Nabil Abu Rudeineh a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. SIMILAR AGENDA Appealing to far-right voters and Likuds own supporters to turn out in large numbers Netanyahu has been portraying himself as being in lockstep with ultra-nationalists over retaining West Bank land through annexation. Ballots cast for far-right parties rather than for Likud he has said could deny it victory in a close race. In Israel voters choose a partys list of parliamentary candidates rather than individuals. Opinion polls show Likud and its main challenger the centrist Blue and White party led by former armed forces chief Benny Gantz running neck and neck meaning coalition-building is key to determining an ultimate winner.