The Israeli cabinet will convene to discuss annexation [10] of areas of the West Bank this week, local media report. The discussion has been called in light of the recently-approved settlement construction plan spearheaded by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich [11], which will see some 3,400 housing units built in the West Bank's contentious E1 area between Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim [12] settlement bloc. (ToI [14])
The Knesset approved a non-binding motion in favor of annexing the entirety of the West Bank on July 23, a symbolic move that united the increasingly fractious [15] right-wing governing coalition. The resolution, which passed 71-13, declared that the West Bank is "an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people," and that "Israel has the natural, historical and legal right to all of the territories of the Land of Israel."
Using Israeli nomenclature for the territory, the resolution called on the government to "apply Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration to all the areas of Jewish settlement of all kinds in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley."
The motion was advanced by Likud MK Dan Illouz [16], Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman and Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer. Voting against were the Arab parties as well as the left-wing Democrats. The largest opposition parties, Yesh Atid and Blue & White, abstained. (ToI [17])
The new annexation push comes as the Israeli army escalates raids and arrests across the West Bank, with military operations reported Aug. 31 in the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah. Four days earlier, 58 Palestinians were injured in an IDF operation targeting Ramallah and el-Bireh. Among the casualties was a 13-year-old, who underwent surgery after being wounded in the abdomen. (Al Jazeera [18])
Combined with ongoing settler attacks, the military operations are disrupting the local Palestinian agricultural economy. Said Ciro Fiorillo, the Food & Agriculture Organization's head of office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: "As the West Bank gears up for the annual olive harvest, the message from farmers is clear: This year's harvest season is marked by uncertainty, and livelihoods are under unprecedented risk." According to the FAO, the combination of state policies and settler violence has prevented Palestinians from accessing tens of thousands of dunums of farmland and pasture this season. (One dunum = 1,000 square meters) (UN News [19])
More than 40,000 Palestinians remain displaced from January's Operation Iron Wall [20], which targeted Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps. Those who could left for the homes of extended families in villages throughout the West Bank, while others remain in makeshift shelters in the immediate areas. The displaced say they fear a second Nakba, and the population "transfer [21]" plan now contemplated for Gaza being extended to the West Bank. (Zeteo [22])
