Israel is preparing to annex the West Bank, an act that would mark a major setback for the Palestinian freedom struggle and risk becoming the trigger for a new uprising.
Although annexation has been on the Israeli agenda for years, this time, an “excellent opportunity” – in the words of far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – appears to be needed, and from Israeli, you should not miss it.
“I hope that we will have an excellent opportunity to seize with the new government of the United States, in order to achieve complete normalization (of the Israeli occupation),” the minister told civil administration staff this month. here.
This is not the first time that Mr. Smotrich, like other Israeli extremists, has linked the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House and the illegal expansion of Israel’s borders.
Two factors explain the optimism of the Israeli far right regarding the arrival of Trump. On the one hand, the Israeli experience during Trump’s first term, which unilaterally modified the American position on the legal status of the settlements, the Syrian Golan and Jerusalem. On the other hand, Trump’s more recent statement in the run-up to the US elections in November.
What is happening in Syria serves as a model for what we can expect in the West Bank in the months to come.
Ramzy Baroud
Israel is “very small” on the map, Mr. Trump said while speaking to the pro-Israel group Stop Antisemitism at an event in August, questioning the possibility of getting more: “There’s- Is there a way to get more?” This declaration, absurd by definition, aroused the joy of Israeli political leaders, who saw it as a green light for new annexations.
Israel’s colonial expansion goals have received new impetus in recent days. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, it immediately began occupying large areas of the country, reaching as far as the Quneitra governorate, less than 20 km from the capital, Damascus.
What is happening in Syria serves as a model for what we can expect in the West Bank in the months to come.
Israel occupied nearly 70% of the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967 and consolidated its illegal occupation of the Arab region by formally annexing it in 1981 through the “Golan Heights Law”. This illegal measure came shortly after another illegal annexation, that of Palestinian East Jerusalem, the previous year.
Although the West Bank was not officially annexed at the time, East Jerusalem’s boundaries expanded well beyond the city’s historic borders, invading large parts of the West Bank.
The West Bank, like East Jerusalem and the Golan, is recognized as illegally occupied territory under international law. Israel has no legal basis to maintain its occupation, much less annex any Palestinian or Arab region. However, he is able to do this thanks to the support of the United States and the West, as well as the silence of the international community.
But why does Israel want to annex the West Bank today?
Aside from the ‘great opportunity’ of Trump’s return to power, Israel believes its ability to sustain a genocidal war on Gaza over the past 14 months without any international intervention will make annexation of the West Bank a much less important issue on the global agenda.
The nature of Palestinian resistance will determine the success or failure of the Israeli plan.
Ramzy Baroud
Although the International Court of Justice issued a decisive judgment in July on the illegality of the Israeli occupation, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against key Israeli leaders in November, no No action has been taken to hold Israel accountable for its actions. Annexation of the West Bank is unlikely to change the situation, especially since Israel carries out its wars and illegal actions with direct support from the United States.
In this context, the annexation of the West Bank in the coming weeks or months constitutes a real possibility.
In fact, Mr. Smotrich has already informed “employees of the Department of Defense agency responsible for Israeli and Palestinian civil affairs in the West Bank” of his intention to “close the department as part of a planned Israeli annexation of the region,” Times of Israel reported on December 6.
If such annexation does not change the legal status of the West Bank, it will have disastrous consequences for the millions of Palestinians living there, as it will likely be followed by a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing, if not entire West Bank, at least a large part of it.
Annexation will also render the Palestinian Authority legally useless. This was created following the Oslo Accords to administer parts of the West Bank pending the future sovereignty of the Palestinian people, which never materialized. Will the PA agree to continue operating under Israeli military administration of a newly annexed West Bank?
The Palestinians will certainly resist, as they always have. The nature of this resistance will determine the success or failure of the Israeli plan. A popular intifada, for example, will strain the Israeli army, which will likely use unprecedented violence to suppress the Palestinians. This crackdown is unlikely to succeed.
The annexation of the West Bank, at a time when Palestine and, indeed, the entire region is in turmoil, is a recipe for perpetual war. From the point of view of Mr. Smotrich and his supporters, this is a truly “great opportunity” because it will ensure their political survival for years to come.
Ramzy Baroud is an international columnist specializing in the Middle East. Author of several books and founder of PalestineChronicle.com, he is also a media consultant.
X : @RamzyBaroud
Editor’s note: The opinion expressed on this page is the author’s own and does not necessarily reflect that of Arab News in French.
This text is the translation of an article published on Arabnews.com.
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