Israel’s process of annexing West Bank territory has restored the Palestinian issue to center stage, after Jerusalem succeeded over the past decade in pushing the issue to the margins of the regional and international agendas. The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conducted a war game to examine the ramifications of Israel’s application of sovereignty over territories in the West Bank. In the scenario, following the Israeli government’s decision to apply sovereignty in limited scope to settlement blocs in the Jerusalem...
Since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the political future of this territory has cast a shadow over all other issues in Israel’s relations with Europe. Discord with the EU intensifies particularly when the Israeli-Palestinian political process stalls, even when Israel is not necessarily to blame, and when Israeli settlement activity in the region increases. Large or small-scale Israeli annexation of territory in the West Bank will elicit negative responses from Europe, deepening the divide between Israel’s senior political...
The “application of sovereignty” is a euphemism for the unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank. This move would thoroughly upset the current state of affairs and change the rules of the game in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that Israel is now presented with what is perhaps a one-time opportunity to change the reality in the conflict arena: “Until today, Israel has always been the one that had to concede, to give, to freeze, and to withdraw…Now President Trump has said that it is...
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reacted to the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the swearing-in of the new government regarding the intention to annex territory in the West Bank with a declaration of disengagement from all agreements between the PLO and Israel and the United States, including the Oslo Accords and other subsequent agreements. The instruction to halt security coordination with Israel was given to the Palestinian working echelons, but was accompanied by a directive, also from...
The IDF withdrawal from Lebanon 20 years ago and the renewed deployment along the UN-recognized international border was a unilateral move by Israel, welcomed by the international community. By contrast, the application of Israeli sovereignty over territory in the West Bank, also a unilateral move, will be the annexation of disputed territory between Israel and the Palestinians, and there is a broad consensus among leading international elements of its illegality. Three critical parameters of Israel’s exit from Lebanon may shed light...
This article highlights the need for the Palestinian leadership to make a counterproposal or present the reasons why it objects to President Trump’s peace vision, which was unveiled in January 2020. Even the most vehement Palestinian rejection of the plan may not stop the implementation of certain aspects of the vision – such as the possible annexation of the Jordan Valley, all Israeli settlements, and other parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the Palestinians, represented by the...
Israel’s new government will have to review the validity of many ideas within the Israeli consensus that have guided foreign policy over the past two decades. Key questions concern the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; relations between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East, particularly in the area of energy and in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; relations with the United States, including the implications of the competition between China and the US; relations with the European Union; and relations with...
The global, regional, and internal implications of the coronavirus are still not fully clear, but Israel’s 35th government will have no 100-day grace period. It must quickly restore the economy to full activity, despite the presence of the virus and the possibility of a renewed outbreak. On the security level, all the regimes in the Middle East are busy with the pandemic and internal affairs, and will most likely seek to avoid escalation in conflicts with Israel. At the same time, the risk of unplanned escalation (in Syria,...
The Gaza Strip has been in an ongoing crisis since the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, especially since Hamas took over the territory by force. The situation in Gaza is characterized by economic, social, and infrastructural distress—verging on a humanitarian crisis—and influenced by the political rivalry and struggle for leadership of the Palestinian camp between Hamas on one hand, and Fatah and the Palestinian Authority on the other. Hamas’s inability to provide for the needs of Gaza’s population serves as a motivating...
Over recent months both Israel and the Palestinians have recorded significant strategic achievements in the prolonged struggle between them. The leaders of both sides told their nations that these victories moved them closer to their desired aim – a resolution to the conflict that fulfills their national desires. However, a critical examination of these achievements raises doubts about the extent to which they actually advance the stated aims of the two sides. The Israeli demand to implement immediately some portions of the Trump...
“The Deal of the Century,” formulated by the Trump administration, is presented as a new paradigm for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that also shapes the architecture of a new Middle East. The plan recognizes Israel’s extensive security requirements and enables Israel to apply its sovereignty on the settlement blocs, the Jordan Valley, and the isolated settlements; avoids uprooting and evacuating Jewish settlers; and preserves a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. For the Palestinian side, the plan outlines...
The deal of the century has confronted the Palestinians at one of the weakest moments in their history. Their ability to unify forces in order to cope with the challenges that the deal poses is limited due to the gaps between the positions of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas and because of the criticism and lack of confidence shown by the public toward to the two leaderships. Abu Mazen continues to rely on the support of the international community and has made it clear that he does not intend to abandon the path of nonviolent...
