Determined to launch the process of annexing a third of the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must present his government's strategy to the population in early July.   

A project that causes some concern in the country, where some fear the security and diplomatic consequences of the implementation of the plan. It provides for the annexation of the Jordan Valley, a strip of agricultural land that accounts for 30% of the West Bank, and more than 130 settlements, as well as the creation of a Palestinian state on a reduced territory without East Jerusalem for capital city. A territory far from the aspirations of the Palestinians who still plead in favor of the two-state solution. 

Within Israeli society, some voices are raised against the Prime Minister's plans, which follow the logic of the "peace plan" presented by Donald Trump at the end of January. About twenty associations have thus called for a large demonstration, on June 6, in the south of Tel Aviv, in Jaffa, against annexation and for "a future without occupation and without bloodshed". 

Fear of a third intifada 

The Israeli Democratic Institute, a Jerusalem-based research center, released a poll on June 3 that shows that while 50% of Israelis support the project, 31% oppose it and 19% "don't speak up." ". And among the 711 people questioned, 58% believe that the "historic opportunity" presented by Benjamin Netanyahu could lead to a third intifada, a Palestinian uprising against the occupation. 

Because anger is brewing in the Palestinian territories, where this Friday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in several cities in the West Bank to protest against the plan to annex Benjamin Netanyahu and the colonization. In Tulkarm, in the north, the Israeli army fired stun grenades and tear gas to prevent dozens of protesters from approaching a military crossing point.  

The threat of an explosion of Palestinian anger is taken seriously in Israel, especially since the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly announced that he will no longer be bound by the agreements signed with Israel and the United States, and the end of cooperation with the Hebrew State, including in the security field.  

If implemented, such a move could threaten relative calm in the West Bank, home to nearly 2.7 million Palestinians and more than 450,000 Israeli settlers, analysts said. 

"A hot summer"

Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh warned of a "hot summer" if the Hebrew state went ahead with the annexation project and warned of "dangerous consequences" if "illegal" annexation of territories.  

"Each household, each young person ... all the elements are there to set fire to the powder, if Israel were to annex [parts of the West Bank]", warned his side, in an interview recently granted to the Israeli channel Kan, Mahmoud al-Habbash, an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas. 

In Israel, the media reports that behind the scenes, a number of Israeli security officials, serving or retired, oppose annexation in general, and in particular as a unilateral measure, fearing repercussions on the ground, even a collapse of the Palestinian Authority which would plunge the territory into chaos.  

Even if the project is greeted by a large part of the Israeli political class, these officials believe that there is nothing to gain by including in the law a situation which, in any case, already exists de facto on the ground. 

Diplomatic risks 

The other reason for concern concerns the international and regional diplomatic risk of such a unilateral move. "If Israel annexed the Jordan Valley in July, it would lead to a major conflict with the Hashemite kingdom," warned King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country is, with Egypt, a signatory to a peace treaty with the 'Hebrew State, during an interview given in mid-May to the German weekly Spiegel.  

For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said last week that France was working with other European countries to define a position, or even a common response, in the event of Israel's annexation of the colonies of West Bank.  

Warnings which, for the moment, have not diverted Benjamin Netanyahu from his project "to write a new glorious chapter in the history of Zionism". 

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