On Sunday February 8, the Israeli Security Cabinet adopted a wide-ranging series of measures that will facilitate Israeli citizen’s, the Israeli government’s, and settlers movement’s ability to acquire land in the West Bank. This will speed-up the process by which Israel can annex the Palestinian West Bank, even though U.S. President Donald Trump has stated he opposes annexation of West Bank land.
Under the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, the first step was to be a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho, with the withdrawal growing over time, and the transfer of some powers and responsibilities on civil matters to the interim Palestinian Authority, whose responsibilities would be enlarged over time.
Under the February 9 Israeli Security Cabinet resolution, the February 8 Jerusalem Post, in an article “Security Cabinet approves Measures Expanding Israeli Control in the West Bank,” [reports,]( https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-886007) “The cabinet approved the renewal of the land Acquisition Committee, a state body that ceased operating roughly two decades ago. Its reinstatement will allow the government to pursue proactive land purchases in the West Bank. [Israeli Defense Minister Israel] Katz, and [Minister of Finance Bezalel] Smotrich said the goal is to secure land reserves for future development of Jewish communities.”
As well, one of the bigger decisions announced by the Cabinet is repeal of a Jordanian-era law that barred the sale of land to Jews, which was enacted in certain areas of the West Bank designated to be under Palestinian administration, to make sure the land remained in the hands of Palestinians, some of whom were quite poor. Whereas previously, Jews could purchase land in these parts of the West Bank only indirectly, now they can purchase the land openly.
Another Security Cabinet measure, CNN reports on Feb. 9, “grants the civil administration and the tiny Jewish settler minority in the city of Hebron building and municipal powers, allowing the settlers to expand without a need to consult with the Palestinian municipality of Hebron.” Hebron, with a population of about 225,000 is the largest city in the West Bank.
Smotrich gloated after the Security Cabinet meeting, “We are … deepening our presence throughout the Land of Israel. We will continue to extinguish the idea of a Palestinian state,” reports CNN.
With the Israeli settler movement burning down Palestinians’ homes, killing their sheep, destroying their olive bushes, and murdering Palestinians in the West Bank, the reality is that, combined with the new dictatorial Israeli Security Cabinet policies, there is full-fledged Israeli annexation going on.
It is possible that Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other Arab nations involved with the Trump-led Board of Peace, will intervene to lead President Trump, who says he is against annexation of the West Bank, onto the path overturning the Feb. 8 Israeli Security Cabinet measures, when Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu comes to meet Trump at the White House on Feb. 11. But if they cannot succeed, then the Board of Peace will be a hollow vessel, as the parlous annexation of the West Bank plows forward.
