Israel can reveal its game on an annexation of the West Bank

Go ahead or delay? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can take stock of his controversial plan to annex parts of the West Bank as early as Wednesday, which could shake up the Hebrew state's "borders" for the first time in decades. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, then the Golan Heights in 1981. Will the country write a new page in its history in 2020 by declaring part of the occupied West Bank “Israeli” ?

According to the agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu and his former electoral rival Benny Gantz, their union government must decide from Wednesday on the implementation of the plan of the American president Donald Trump for the Middle East, which notably provides for the annexation by Israel of settlements and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. Will Benjamin Netanyahu opt for the maximalist approach by deciding to attach to Israel the Jordan Valley, a vast aquifer plain, and a hundred Jewish settlements in the West Bank, or for the minimalist approach by targeting a handful of colonies? And if it goes ahead, will it do it as early as Wednesday, later in the week, during the summer or fall?

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Prime Minister enjoys a "window" of fire for a few months because a victory in November for the American presidential election of Democrat Joe Biden, hostile to annexation, could wipe out his foreign support for this project criticized by both the European Union, the United Nations and Arab countries. Netanyahu spoke on Tuesday in Jerusalem with Avi Berkowitz, special advisor to Donald Trump, and David Friedman, American ambassador to Israel, about Israeli "sovereignty" in the West Bank, a term used by the Hebrew state to refer to annexation. He said "to work these days" on this subject and that he would continue "in the coming days" , without further revealing the content of these discussions nor his specific intentions.

"I am convinced that this will happen but not tomorrow," Wednesday said on army radio Tzachi Hanegbi, a minister without a portfolio but deemed close to Benjamin Netanyahu. From Wednesday, "the clock is running" , said for his part the Minister of Water Zeev Elkin, while judging the idea that "everything was going to take place on July 1" .

“International law is crystal clear in this regard: annexation is illegal. If Israel moves forward, it will demonstrate its cynical disregard for international law (...) in favor of the law of the jungle. "

The Palestinians, who are shattering the Trump plan and the Israeli annexation project, called for demonstrations on Wednesday in the Jordan Valley, in Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, in the West Bank, and in the controlled enclave Gaza Strip. by Hamas Islamists. Any annexation without prior peace talks would be a "declaration of war," recently argued Hamas, which after waging three wars against Israel (2008, 2012, 2014) in recent years has sought to express opposition to the plan. without looking for a new confrontation, according to analysts.

In this context, the Palestinians are trying to rally support to dissuade Israel from going ahead with its plan that they say shatters the Oslo peace accords providing for a "two-state" solution , a Independent and viable Palestine alongside Israel. Since the signing of these agreements in September 1993, the population in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, deemed illegal by international law, has more than tripled to exceed the 450,000 Israelis living alongside the 2.8 million Palestinians today. . “International law is crystal clear in this regard: annexation is illegal. If Israel moves forward, it will demonstrate its cynical disregard for international law ... in favor of the law of the jungle, "said Saleh Hijazi, an Israeli-Palestinian conflict specialist at Amnesty International.

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The Palestinians say they are ready to relaunch bilateral negotiations with the Israelis but not on the basis of the Trump plan, according to a text submitted to the Quartet (European Union, United Nations, Russia and United States) and consulted by AFP. "We are not going to sit at a negotiating table where the annexation or the Trump plan are proposed because it is not a peace plan, but a project to legitimize the occupation" , said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.