India, Feb. 11 -- A top Israeli official said on Tuesday that measures adopted by the Government that deepen Israeli control in the occupied West Bank amounted to implementing "de facto sovereignty," using language that mirrors critics' warnings about the intent behind the moves. The steps "actually establish a fact on the ground that there will not be a Palestinian state," Energy Minister Eli Cohen told Israel's Army Radio. Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights groups have called the moves announced Sunday an annexation of the territory, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians who seek it for a future state.

Cohen's comments followed similar remarks by other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Government, including F...