Israel's Extremists Say West Bank Annexation Is Inevitable. They're Wrong

A ceremony earlier this year marking the reestablishment of the settlement Sa-Nur in the northern West Bank. Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

Last week, the IDF expelled a Palestinian family from their home ahead of the inauguration of a settlement called Emek Dotan in the northern part of the West Bank. Earlier this year, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both participated in a similar event at Sanur, another new settlement nearby.

Both of these settlements are located in an area of the West Bank that Israel had once withdrawn from, due to understandings between the government of Ariel Sharon and the administration of George W. Bush. The U.S., at the time, wanted Israel's disengagement from Gaza to also include a limited evacuation of West Bank settlements.

Sharon agreed to remove four, all in the vicinity of the Palestinian city of Jenin. Now, 21 years later, the current Israeli government is working to reverse this reality by reestablishing those settlements and building new ones in the same area.

Smotrich stated that by resettling this corner of the West Bank, Israel is making a "historic correction." He added that the construction of these settlements is an important step toward "killing the idea of a Palestinian state." These events are deeply connected to the uptick in violent attacks by extremist settlers all over the occupied territories and the resulting displacement of Palestinian communities.

For Smotrich, this is all part of a broader plan to prepare the ground for Israel formally annexing the West Bank. By creating new settlements, even in areas that Israel had once agreed to withdraw from, Smotrich is trying to send a message that annexation is inevitable.

But if you peel back the curtain, the latest developments in the northern West Bank prove something different: that annexation is a political project – one that relies on governmental and legislative support and can therefore also be reversed via cabinet decisions and legislation.

To understand why, it's important to examine the history of Israel's settlements in this specific region. In 2005, when the disengagement took place, Sharon's government passed a law barring Israeli citizens from returning to the evacuated settlements. For nearly two decades, despite relentless pressure from the settlement movement, this law remained in place, and was enforced by the IDF on the ground.

Attempts to rebuild the evacuated settlements failed time and again. Illegal structures were demolished and some of the settlers involved in the reconstruction effort were even indicted. This area remained free of Israeli settlements not because the settlers had accepted the post-disengagement reality, but because the State of Israel – sometimes under international pressure – upheld the law.

All that changed under the current far-right government, which includes self-described messianic ultranationalists alongside authoritarian opportunists. The government repealed the 2005 law, and thus opened the door for settlers to return to the evacuated region. Only once the law had been changed did the resettlement project move forward.

Most Israelis don't live in settlements, don't visit small and isolated settlements like the ones now being constructed in the northern West Bank, and don't support annexation, despite Smotrich's propaganda.

Across the West Bank, Israelis and Palestinians are fighting annexation not through slogans, but through their own presence. Israeli activists accompany Palestinian farmers who go out to harvest their land. They document attacks, speak to settlers and soldiers in Hebrew, and show the Palestinians living on the land that someone has their back. By doing so, they are disrupting Smotrich's annexation plan.

This sustained, organized, nonviolent co-resistance involving Israelis and Palestinians is coordinated by a number of organizations, with the New Israel Fund – the organization I direct – taking a strategic lead. Alongside these brave activists, lawyers and human rights groups are documenting land seizures and challenging impunity in court to hold perpetrators accountable.

Another significant source of hope is the fact that the policy architecture for a different future already exists. Israeli policy experts continue to prepare plans for democratic repair, regional diplomacy and eventually the implementation of the two-state solution. At the end of the day, even the Trump administration has explicitly opposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Annexation is not an inevitable force of nature; it's a policy choice promoted by a specific government. The next one will still have an opportunity to reverse it. Whether its leaders will have the courage to do so remains the most important question of the upcoming Israeli election.

Mickey Gitzin is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the New Israel Fund, the leading organization advancing and defending democracy and equality for all Israelis.