Palestinian negotiator: Israel exit polls show victory for 'annexation'

A top Palestinian official said Monday initial Israeli election exit polls indicating victory for right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed that "annexation" had won.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the exit polls by Israeli media showed that "settlement, annexation and apartheid have won the Israeli elections."

"Netanyahu's campaign was about the continuation of the occupation and conflict," Erekat added on Twitter, saying the result would "force the people of the region to live by the sword: continuation of violence, extremism and chaos."

Netanyahu had pledged to annex the Jordan Valley, a large part of the occupied West Bank, if he won and formed the next government.

Palestinians see the territory as a vital part of their planned future state and have said such annexation would mean an end to the notion of peace on the basis of the two-state solution.

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Exit polls immediately after voting ended suggested Netanyahu's Likud had won between 36 and 37 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, with his centrist rivals Blue and White earning between 32 and 33.