With the topic of this year’s Israeli election focused heavily on annexation, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in Area C — the more than 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli control — are hanging in the balance. Mondoweiss spoke to three Palestinians living in areas of the West Bank– in close proximity to settlements, Area C, and the Jordan Valley — that would likely be the first ones affected if Netanyahu sees his plans through.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley has simply made obvious what Palestinians have known for generations: Israel is uninterested in affording them their right to self-determination.
Netanyahu wants to annex the West Bank, what will the Democrats do?
Benjamin Netanyahu’s main opposition in the the upcoming Israeli elections responded to his call to annex the West Bank by saying they had the idea first. Between the support of the Trump administration, and Israeli political consensus, and there is little standing in the way of annexation.
Trump fired John Bolton as national security adviser today, signalling his independence of donor Sheldon Adelson. Trump at last has the upper hand in his relationship with Netanyahu and Sheldon Adelson because Netanyahu desperately needs Trump to deliver on OK’ing Israel’s annexation of Jewish settlements, a huge Zionist victory that Netanyahu promised voters today in a desperate bid for reelection. Trump will deliver, but at the price of Iran policy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he would annex all Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley, and the northern Dead Sea area of the occupied West Bank if he wins Israel’s general elections next week.
Israeli politicians and leaders of the settler movement are calling for annexation of the occupied West Bank after the body of an off-duty Israeli soldier was found on the side of the road early Thursday morning in the southern West Bank.
Israel’s threat of annexation is a crisis for liberal Zionists because it makes them confront a reality: There is not going to be a two-state solution. Yesterday Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street warned supporters: “Members of the Trump administration are opening the door to a one-state scenario where Palestinians will live as second-class citizens.” But that scenario exists right now, and liberal Zionists have done precious little to oppose it.
After US Ambassador David Friedman said Israel has a right to annex parts of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it may file a complaint with the International Criminal Court. “What reasoning could justify Friedman’s logic? International law prohibits the annexation of a land by force,” it said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all but concedes that the famous “deal of the century” is “unexecutable,” in a closed meeting with Jewish leaders. “I get why people think this is going to be a deal that only the Israelis could love, I understand the perception of that.”