Israel’s annexation plan: Netanyahu misses target date for starting controversial move

Boris Johnson wrote an op-ed in an Israeli newspaper urging the government not to go ahead with annexation

Benjamin Netanyahu has missed the self-imposed 1 July deadline to start the controversial process of annexing the West Bank, a close aide and confidant confirmed on Wednesday, with fraught talks with the United States having yet to yield results.

The Israeli prime minister was permitted to formally present the annexation plan to the cabinet or parliament from 1 July, according to a power-sharing deal he struck with his coalition partner Benny Gantz.

The decision to declare sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory has been met with fierce backlash from the international community.

Boris Johnson on Wednesday cautioned that it violates international law and would jeopardise Israel’s own security.

Despite Mr Netanyahu’s fiery speeches vowing to press ahead, in line with Donald Trump’s January peace deal, cabinet minister Ofir Akunis admitted officials were still working out the final details with their American counterparts.

He added that he expected the annexation to take place later in July, casting further doubt on whether Israel would go through with the divisive plan at all.

“Coordination with the American administration is not something that can be dismissed,” Mr Akunis told Israel’s Army Radio.

The prime minister’s office issued a statement saying Mr Netanyahu held discussions on Wednesday with American diplomats and Israeli defence officials on the issue of annexation, and that “additional discussions will be be held in the coming days”.

Several other countries, the United Nations, the European Union, and most Arab states, including Israel’s key neighbours like Jordan, have all warned it will only spark a tidal wave of violence and kill a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.

The Palestinians, who seek all of the West Bank as part of a future nation, have said it would end their hopes of statehood.

Israel needs the backing of the Trump administration, which released a peace plan in January handing nearly a third of the West Bank to Israel along with most of Jerusalem as its capital.

But amid the mounting chorus of condemnation, the US appears to have toned down its enthusiasm for the imminent annexation. Israel and the US have been holding talks for several months supposedly finalising a map of which areas of the West Bank will be annexed.

A view of the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank (AFP/Getty) (AFP via Getty)

After wrapping up meetings with White House envoy Avi Berkowitz and the US ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu admitted nothing had been decided.

“I spoke about the question of sovereignty, which we are working on these days and we will continue to work on in the coming days,” the prime minister said.

Similar doubt was cast by Israel’s foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, on Wednesday.

“I don’t know what will be. I am not a prophet,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

The West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza have been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war and are territories that the Palestinians hope will become their future state.

However, Israelis see these lands as theirs, and so over the past few decades built hundreds of settlements and outposts.

There are now nearly 430,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank, which is home to 2.7 million Palestinians, according to Israeli watchdog Peace Now. Peace Now also estimates there are a further 220,000 Israeli settlers living in occupied East Jerusalem.

During the campaign trail of the past three elections in Israel, Mr Netanyahu has put annexation at the centre of his platform.

He is under time pressure. Mr Trump is considered one of the most amenable US presidents to the idea of annexation and so Mr Netanyahu’s supporters fear it must be pushed through ahead of the US election this year.

Leaders of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, which are key allies of the Netanyahu administration, have voiced concern that any delay will end up in annexation being cancelled.

They have even spoken about a 15 July “expiration” date for the plan, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

Yisrael Gantz, head of the Mateh Binyamin regional council, which encompasses 46 Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, told the Israeli newspaper they were concerned that in the run up to the presidential elections in the US, the Trump administration would be too distracted to support annexation.

“In the three months prior to the election, the United States will not do anything dramatic,” he posited.

Many of the more ideologically radical settlers, who believe Israel should encompass all of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, have also expressed anger at Mr Trump’s peace plan for handing too much territory to the Palestinians. It is another pressure that Mr Netanyahu has to grapple with alongside backlash abroad and pushback from his own ruling coalition.

Benny Gantz, the country’s alternate prime minister, has expressed serious reservations. This week he said annexation should only be advanced “with strategic partners in the region and with the Palestinians, and to reach an arrangement that benefits all sides”.

There have been different reports in Israel media about a watered-down version of annexation in light of these obstacles, with Israel’s broadcaster Channel 12 reporting that Mr Netanyahu may only annex three of the larger and old settlement blocs first.

Channel 12 also reported that the American negotiators are asking Israel to make “a significant step” as a gesture to the Palestinians, such as handing over West Bank territory to Palestinian control comparable to that annexed. Israel currently has full control over 60 per cent of the West Bank.