- The government could present this week, from July 1, details of its plan to annex the occupied territories in the West Bank.
- Last January, President of the United States Donald Trump relaunched the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by proposing a new solution for partitioning the territories.
- A plan that the international community opposes. As for the Western countries, they remain divided on the sanctions to be imposed on Israel in the event of annexation. 20 Minutes takes stock of the issues surrounding this project.
Crucial week in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could reveal details from July 1 of his plans to annex the occupied territories in the West Bank. It aims to translate into reality the "peace plan" of Donald Trump announced last January to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As the deadline approaches, public positions are increasing. Last Thursday, the armed wing of Hamas, the ruling movement in Gaza, warned that annexing swathes of the Israeli-occupied West Bank would amount to a "declaration of war" against the Palestinians. For the past few weeks, protests have been taking place almost daily in Gaza to protest the Trump plan.
Which territories in the West Bank are potentially affected by the annexation?
Israel would seek to annex the territories of "zone C" defined by the Oslo agreements of 1990 and which represents 60% of the territory. This area is under Israeli military and civilian control, while Areas A and B, which make up the remaining 40%, are mainly under Palestinian control. Originally, according to the Oslo Accords, Area C was to revert to the Palestinian Authority. What Israel denies.
The American plan, which provides for the creation of a Palestinian state, proposes a division in two of this zone C where 450,000 Israeli settlers and 300,000 Palestinians live. "For Netanyahu, it is a question of swallowing the elephant, the question is to know what is the size of the piece that it will swallow, that is to say what will be the annexed territories", explained a Western diplomat to AFP.
According to the Israeli press, a maximalist scenario calls for the annexation of both the settlements and the Jordan Valley, and a more minimalist scenario suggests the annexation, at least for starters, of settlements or settlement blocs. For the Israeli Prime Minister who is entering his fifth term, the Trump plan offers a "historic opportunity" to assert "the sovereignty of Israel".
How is the international community reacting?
Last Wednesday, the American diplomat Mike Pompeo gave a green light to the projects of the Hebrew State in spite of the absence of discussions with the Palestinians however envisaged in the American plan. As soon as the plan was announced in late January, the Palestinian Authority reacted by announcing the termination of all diplomatic relations with Israel and the United States.
The UN and the Arab League have asked Israel to abandon its plans for annexation to the West Bank which could "put an end to international efforts in favor of the creation of a viable Palestinian state". Same opinion on the side of Jordan, the only Arab country with Egypt to have concluded a peace agreement with Israel and for whom this annexation would risk plunging the Middle East into a "long and painful conflict". This annexation would mean that these sectors would be officially part of Israel, which would consecrate the fragmentation of the West Bank, which would become a Palestinian territory without continuity.
In Europe, 1,000 elected members of parliaments from 25 European countries have called for action to "prevent" the Israeli project. "If the Israelis decide to go ahead with the annexation process, we would be forced to oppose measures affecting the relations of the European Union and its member states with Israel," the minister warned on Wednesday. Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, before the Senate. If he concedes that taking a global position on the EU is complicated - certain member states like Poland or Hungary being opposed to the idea of a sanction against Israel - he recalls that a “series of measures can be taken on a national basis ”, without excluding excluding recognition of the Palestinian State in the event of annexation.
What would be the consequences in the event of annexation?
According to a poll released in early June, a majority of Israelis fear a third intifada (Palestinian uprising) in the event of annexation. Last Thursday, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas, Abou Obaida, promised to make "the enemy bite his fingers." The following day, two rockets were launched from Gaza to Israel. "Tensions at the fence separating Gaza from Israel may resume with the launching of incendiary and explosive devices," warns Mukhaimar Abu Saada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza.
But for Palestinian analyst Adnane Abou Amer, interviewed by AFP, "Hamas' options are complex because any response to the annexation will have consequences for the Gaza Strip", affected for more than ten years by a blockade. The Islamist movement fears that an outbreak of violence would weaken the indirect negotiations on a prisoner exchange with Israel, which would be the first in almost 10 years between the two enemies.
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