Amid its protracted war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its increasingly destructive war of attrition with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel is creating unacceptable and potentially destabilizing facts on the ground in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier this month, on two successive days, Israeli government bodies converted yet more land in the West Bank into state land and recognized three unauthorized and illegal outposts.
On July 3, the Civil Administration, which runs civilian affairs in the West Bank, classified 2,965 acres in the Jordan Valley as state land. This was the largest designation of state land since the 1993 Oslo accords and followed designations of 650 acres near Jerusalem in February, 1,976 acres in the Jordan Valley in March, and 42 acres in the Etzion bloc in April.
The next day, the Higher Planning Committee recognized the outposts of Givat Han, Kedem Arava and Mahane Gadi, all of which are on the edge of existing settlements, and approved and advanced plans for 5,295 homes in West Bank settlements
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, was a key player in these developments inasmuch as he holds a pivotal position in the Ministry of Defence that confers responsibility to him for civilian affairs in the West Bank.
A settler himself, he acknowledged that these moves were expressly designed to thicken Israel’s already dense network of settlements in the West Bank and thwart the formation of a Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition government is dependent on Smotrich’s support for survival, remained silent as these steps were announced. But everyone knows that Netanyahu and Smotrich are exactly on the same page insofar as settlement expansion and Palestinian statehood are concerned.
They are determined to tighten Israel’s grip on the West Bank and prevent the emergence of an independent Palestinian state without finding a viable alternative to Hamas in Gaza. Their policy translates into creeping annexation, an unwise course of action that is nothing less than a prescription for endless violence, bloodshed and instability.
The Israeli government’s counter-productive policy will cost it dearly.
once the current war is over, Israel will likely find it far more difficult, if not impossible, to replace Hamas as the ruling authority in Gaza.
Absent a real two-state solution, Israel could well miss a golden opportunity to achieve a historic rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, which would surely hasten Israel’s integration into the region and serve as a bulwark against Iranian mischief and expansionism.
It is clear that Israeli Jews have hardened their view of Palestinians in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack in southern Israel, which led to the deaths of roughly 1,200 civilians and soldiers. This is understandable from an emotional point of view, but in stark geo-political terms, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is unsustainable and dangerous. It can only benefit radicals on both sides of the divide.
General Yehuda Fox, the outgoing commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, noted recently that Jewish settlers have accelerated their attacks on ordinary Palestinians there. Much to its discredit, Israel is doing very little, or simply nothing, to stem this wave of Jewish settler vigilante violence, which has grown more brazen since October 7.
Israelis will not be able to live in peace and quiet unless they reach a realistic and practical non-belligerency arrangement with Palestinians who are prepared to coexist with Israel.
The destruction of Hamas’ military capabilities would represent a crucial step in that direction. Beyond that, as Fox correctly observed, Israel should be ready to engage a “strong and functioning” Palestinian Authority in the ultimate creation of a new political landscape, which, as he said, would be in Israel’s long-range security interests.