Over the past few weeks, Israel’s intentions to unilaterally annex occupied parts of the West Bank have become more and more apparent. These statements, being made during a global pandemic, prompted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to make a staggering announcement on Tuesday, indicating a massive shift towards a new violent spiral in the already conflict-ridden region. “The Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the US and Israeli governments and of all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones,” he said.
To summarize the conflict briefly, Israel seized control of a major portion of the West Bank after a war in 1967 and has occupied the area since then. The Oslo Peace Accords of the 1990s officially recognized Palestinian self-rule in certain areas of the West Bank, while 60% of the territory, called Area C, remained under full Israeli military and civil control. However, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan, signed earlier this year, offered recognition for the Israeli annexation of the strategically important Jordan Valley, which constitutes a third of the disputed area that is currently not under Israeli civil control. The Palestinians vehemently reject this notion–and the US deal in general–as they consider the Valley to be an integral part of their territory.
Therefore, the agreement of the recently formed Israeli unity government between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former rival Benny Gantz, which sets 1 July as the date for talks of a unilateral annexation of the disputed West Bank territory, has provoked a strong and threatening response from the Palestinian Authority (PA). If the new government–under the 18-month-long leadership of Netanyahu–acts according to these timelines, other features of the US plan, such as those of a two-state outcome and security cooperation, will be rendered irrelevant since Abbas would refuse to negotiate further.
The current system of security cooperation between Palestinian security forces and the Israeli military includes a joint understanding of counterterrorism efforts, intelligence-sharing, and riot control, among other crucial measures regarding military raids and prisoner swaps. These coordination efforts have been a core tenet of Abbas’ approach to Tel Aviv for years, helping underpin stability efforts in the West Bank and Gaza. The very real and strong Palestinian threat of pulling out of such a treaty can prove to be extremely dangerous, not just for the militarily compromised Authority, but also for Israel and the region overall.
More than 220 retired Israeli generals as well as several leaders from the Mossad, Shin Bet, and the police signed a full-page ad in local newspapers to discourage the unity government from unilaterally annexing the West Bank territory, warning of regional instability and national security implications. Soon after, 130 American Jewish leaders made a similar call, as well as 11 members of the US Congress. Yet, in his one-day visit to the Israeli capital last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed the US position that it is an Israeli decision and ‘right’ to make territorial moves in the West Bank, stating that Netanyahu and Gantz would require coordination with Washington to form a joint team that would solve the complex issue in accordance with the agreed-upon plan.
It is also worth noting that the formation of the new Israeli government and Pompeo’s visit both occurred bang in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already heightened uncertainties of physical and economic security in the region. In Gaza and the West Bank, even before the outbreak, populations were living in dire poverty and healthcare facilities were abysmal. In February, the World Health Organization had officially accused Israel of withholding crucial medicines and healthcare equipment from Palestinian access.
But Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention places a natural responsibility on Israel to ensure and maintain the “adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics” in its occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank. As a result, Israeli Present Reuven Rivlin and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have held multiple calls to talk about fighting the pandemic together.
Officials from both sides have confirmed the setting up of a joint operations center, as well as mechanisms to share and coordinate information and actions. At the same time, restrictions on the movement for Palestinian labourers were temporarily relaxed. Reportedly, Israel also delivered a limited number of test kits to Palestinian-administered hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank, in addition to training Palestinian healthcare workers. Nickolay Mlandenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the United Nations Security Council that April had witnessed “inspiring examples” of peaceful cooperation in the region in a common battle to contain the outbreak.
Still, there have been several reports of the Israeli blockade preventing medical aid from reaching Palestine-controlled areas, with senior Israeli medical officials hinting at a ‘medical annexation’ of the West Bank. For instance, in mid-April, Israeli authorities ordered testing to be halted in Gaza. Simultaneously, they also shut down a Palestinian-operated testing clinic in East Jerusalem and arrested activists. And although the American Congress had urged for the allocation $75 million for 2020 humanitarian aid to Palestine, the White House has not allowed for that aid to be delivered in congruency with Trump’s 2019 decision to cease all aid to Palestinians. Jon Alterman, a former State Department official and director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told TIME that there was a very slim chance that the Trump administration would reverse this, despite the high threat of COVID-19 in the region, since it is of the belief that Palestinians are responsible for their own conditions and should reverse their situation by cooperating politically with Israel and Washington. The restoration of aid to Palestinians, in fact, has become one of 2020 Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s chief campaign promises.
Further, as noted by Mlandenov, increased uncertainties and talks of annexation have also led to a rise in confrontation and fighting in the conflict regions. Just this past week, Israeli forces reportedly gunned down a Palestinian teenager near Hebron, while some Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli forces in an arrest raid near Jenin, killing a soldier and injuring others.
Violent conditions in the region have already contributed to a systematically broken healthcare system that has been unable to accommodate the pandemic. The continued stubbornness of Israeli leaders to promise unilateral annexation of a disputed region during a pandemic requiring strategic cooperation, therefore, has severely exacerbated the existing territorial conflict.
The UN has warned of the devastating effects of the possible escalations in the conflict, and several Arab leaders have warned of retaliatory action against Israel should it annex any West Bank territory. Jordanian King Abdullah II said last week that Tel Aviv’s moves could cause a “massive conflict” with his Kingdom, and even Egypt has cautioned it against these moves. These are highly significant reactions as both are Israeli neighbours and are also the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state. Jordan risks imposing several existential threats upon itself from souring relations with Israel but also acts as a buffer zone between Israel, and Iraq and Syria, and the disruption of cold peace maintained between the two countries would make Israel’s borders highly vulnerable. At the same time, Egypt’s energy and business cooperation with Israel also stands to be compromised in the wake of an annexation.
Even the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that the bloc will not accept any changes to the 1967 borders unless such a deal is negotiated with Palestine. There are talks within the Union to push for punitive economic measures in case Israel declares sovereignty in the West Bank. Yet, these warnings seem to be falling on deaf ears in both Tel Aviv and Washington.
The systematic weakening of the PA’s economic, strategic, and medical capabilities over the years and especially during the pandemic has paved a rather easy path for Israel to assert its military power and realistically plan its unilateral annexation of the West Bank with US support. The two-state solution has already been compromised by years of failure in negotiations and the widespread political support to Trump’s plan in the Knesset. In the coming months, as Netanyahu gears up to put his plans into action, the conflict-ridden reality that existed before the pandemic will continue and may prompt the PA–and inevitably, Hamas and other militant groups–to react militarily, further entrenching the conflict and wiping away chances of negotiation.
Image Source: Foreign Policy
Israel’s Plans to Unilaterally Annex the West Bank Are a Major Threat to Regional Security
Palestine has retaliated by ending all agreements with Tel Aviv and the US
May 20, 2020
