Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, has demanded the annexation of the Palestinian West Bank. He instructed the Defence Ministry’s settlement department and civil administration to “begin professional and comprehensive staff work to prepare the necessary infrastructure” for extending sovereignty, according to a statement from his office, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. Smotrich is reviving plans suspended in 2020 to annex the Israeli settlement blocs which make up some 30% of the West Bank occupied since 1967, which Palestinians cl…