Middle East
Annexation as a political goal
picture alliance/dpa / Michael Kappeler
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN General Assembly in September 2023, holding a map of the Middle East that shows the West Bank and Gaza as part of Israel.
According to a study conducted in May by the consultancy firm Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), 77 % of Palestinians aged between 18 and 24 rate the security situation in the West Bank as worse than it was a year ago. There are repeated violent clashes between Israeli settlers, the Israeli military, Palestinian militias and the Palestinian civilian population.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports that more than 720 people were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 12 months following Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. That is more than three times as many as in the whole of 2022. In addition, Palestinians’ freedom of movement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is restricted by nearly 800 roadblocks.
The approval of new settlements adds fuel to the fire. In summer 2024, the Israeli government approved the construction of more than 5000 new settlement units in the occupied territory and recognised three outposts that Israeli settlers built in Palestinian districts without a permit.
There are now more than 490,000 Israelis living in the West Bank. Dozens of settlements are classified by the UN as illegal under international law. On 19 July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, to be unlawful. In its judgement, the ICJ affirmed the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination in all of its territory. Despite this, many settlers dream of annexing that territory – a process that Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government continues to push forward. The exclusive Jewish claim to the West Bank figures prominently in the coalition agreement.
In May, the Israeli military transferred numerous administrative powers in the Occupied Territories to an Israeli civil administration. Its leaders report to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a representative of the radical settlers who lives in Kedumim, a settlement in the West Bank. He recently called for the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the establishment of new settlements deep in the heart of the Palestinian territories.
Kim Berg is an editor at the communications agency Fazit and specialises in political communication.
kim.berg@fazit.de