On 6 April, after three inconclusive Israeli elections and over 500 days of political deadlock, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, head of the rival Blue and White Coalition finally formed a coalition government. The agreement will see Netanyahu remain as Prime Minister for 18 months after which point Gantz will take on the role for another 18 months. The new government was sworn in on 17 May with Netanyahu at its head.
Crucially for the Palestinians, this government has as one of its stated aims the annexation of settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has illegally moved over 500,000 settlers into thousands of settlements in the territory. Annexing these settlements would see significant sections of the West Bank formally taken into Israeli territory. Netanyahu demanded support for such annexations as a precursor to a unity agreement, and Gantz agreed, with the proviso that the US approve any such annexation.
The US has thus far declined to give such approval. Sidestepping the issue, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on 22 April that annexation was ‘an Israeli decision’ but that the US government would communicate to Israel its private opinion on the matter. Although annexation of occupied territory is expressly forbidden under international law, the Trump Administration will give a green light; it already paved the way for it with its atrociously one-sided ‘Peace Plan’ in January. Doing so privately means the US could at the same time satisfy Gantz’s desire for US approval while avoiding the potential backlash of openly endorsing such a brazen move.
In response, 127 British politicians signed an open letter condemning the annexation plan and calling on the British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to make clear that any such annexations ‘will have severe consequences including sanctions’ from Britain. The letter, signed by former Tory cabinet members, diplomats, and Labour MPs among others, decries the annexation plan as illegal under international law. However, rather than standing against the Zionist state’s racist settler-colonial project in its entirety, the statement instead warns of annexation being ‘a mortal blow to… any viable two-state solution’. Calls for a two-state solution are nothing more than window dressing for the continuation of Israeli occupation.
In reality, the effective annexation of the West Bank to Israel is already an accomplished fact, as Israel maintains effective control over the whole territory and Israeli settlers benefit from legal, political and economic privileges denied to their Palestinian neighbours. There is no ‘viable two-state solution’ and there has not been for a long time. It is also telling that the letter makes no mention of the routine killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers, the demolitions of Palestinian homes to make room for Israeli settlements, the denial of the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, or the countless other atrocities inflicted on the Palestinians. These false friends of Palestine are not seeking Palestine’s national liberation but rather a return to the sham ‘peace process’, maintained through the mirage of a ‘two-state solution’, that has prevailed for nearly 30 years and under which Israel has been able to discreetly lay the groundwork for the complete domination of the Palestinian people. Three of the signatories to the statement are members of Labour Friends of Israel and include the reactionary MP Margaret Hodge, who has been at the forefront of attacks on Palestinian solidarity activists under the guise of combatting anti-Semitism.
The Palestinian response
Two days after the new Israeli government was sworn in, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to end all agreements with Israel and the US, including security arrangements. The PA is particularly squeezed by Israel’s latest manoeuvre. Created by the sham ‘peace process’ of the Oslo Accords, the PA has functioned as an arm of the Israeli occupation, suppressing Palestinian revolt through ‘security cooperation’ with the occupier. Now that Israel’s leaders clearly believe they can complete the settler-colonial project in Palestine without the PA’s help, Abbas has found himself cornered.On 15 May, over 100 Palestinian youth and solidarity organisations published a statement, supported by FRFI and published by Samidoun Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Network, for the overthrow of the PA. With Israel escalating its assaults on the Palestinian territories and the corrupt and oppressive PA on the verge of collapse, the emergence of a renewed struggle by the Palestinian people is a necessity.
Wesam Khaled
