Policy papers and recommendations
/ The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
The annexation project being energetically promoted by the 37th Government is a real danger to the security of Israel. It undermines Israel’s identity and image as a Jewish and democratic state, and isolates it in the regional and international arena. Once it is complete, there will be a single isolated, weak and violent state, embroiled in conflict, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Annexation has proceeded by leaps and bounds since the present government took office (December 2022), and even more vigorously since October 7, 2023. The moves towards annexation are part of an orderly right wing-radical agenda, expressed in Smotrich’s “Decisive Plan” (2017), and implemented in practice with the full approval and encouragement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Annexation includes taking structural and institutional control of all civilian powers that were the responsibility of the IDF, unbridled acceleration of building in the settlements, the unprecedented declaration that huge areas of land are ‘state land’, and illegal takeover of extensive parts of Area C (mainly by setting up outposts and farms). These steps are accompanied by institutional terror – militias of young men operating from the outposts, with government funding and assistance, ignored and sometimes even backed by the Police and the IDF – against innocent Palestinians. The terror is designed to make the Palestinians’ lives miserable and drive them out of their land (while perpetuating a situation of ‘despair instead of hope’, as Smotrich puts it). The promotion of annexation includes clear sectorial preference, and the diversion of huge budgets from the Treasury to the settlements (headed by Minister Smotrich). The annexation is accompanied by deliberate weakening of the Palestinian Authority (the ‘enemy’ of the right) hoping it will collapse and deliver a fatal blow to the Palestinian economy, in order to smash the Palestinian collective. Annexation is also the main ideological source behind the ongoing moves towards an anti-democratic coup. All these factors come together in a belligerent, unrestrained, anti-peace agenda that believes in the use of military force as a panacea, but is actually weakening Israel and leading it to security disasters on every front.
Notwithstanding the seriousness of the threat of annexation and the fact that it constitutes an illegal policy executed at the price of Israel’s security, is not supported by the Israeli public, and arouses anger against Israel in the regional and international arena – all countermeasures taken so far have been meager and ineffective. At the political level, only the members of the Democratic Faction, the Arab parties Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am, and some civil society organizations and activists have unambiguously condemned annexation. At international level there have been threats and sanctions with only marginal impact. Preventive moves have not only failed to stop annexation, they have even spurred the government to accelerate the pace and make the situation on the ground even worse.
Even so, in spite of the rapidity and the extraordinary effectiveness of the moves towards annexation, they are still reversible and can be “turned back’ and utterly stopped. Legislation and government resolutions can be cancelled at one stroke; construction and changes on the ground can also be halted: they are still very far from implementation. Most importantly – the Israeli public is not rushing to move to the territories, which are rightly seen as controversial and a real security risk. Moreover, negative migration from the settlements is continuing, and the Israeli public are not ‘buying’ the illusions that the heads of the failing settlement project are trying to ‘sell’ them.
A proper response to the threat of annexation can only be achieved when the rightwing radical government is replaced. In order to save Israel from the disaster of annexation- the one state solution and the destruction of the Zionist vision, and to ensure Israel’s security, a new government will have to abandon the idea of ‘managing the conflict’, as well as the mendacious ‘military decision’ approach, and bring about a political settlement. The response to the systemic problem posed by annexation must itself be systemic and broad. In other words, together with the necessary steps to ‘roll back’ annexation, restoring the focus on security considerations and eliminating the disastrous ‘one state’ situation, it is important to promote practical steps to bring about thorough change in the area and prepare the ground for a new arrangement and agreed disengagement.
This document describes the historical development of annexation and analyses the practices adopted under annexation policy over the years. It includes a historical survey, starting from the capture of the West Bank, with the emphasis on the gradual transition (under Netanyahu governments) from ‘creeping annexation’ to ‘accelerated annexation’, during the term of the 37th Government. The document also specifies the destructive consequences of annexation for Israel’s security, its political status, its economy and its identity. The last section gives details of the required response to the annexation threat. In this chapter we present steps designed to block the decline and stabilize the territory, in a combination of moves intended to return Israel to the stable route towards a settlement. These moves will gradually bring Israel closer to long term security by means of a stable regional arrangement based on the two state vision. The next government cannot tread water and must present a new political paradigm, based on the vision of an arrangement that will lead gradually to disengagement and implementation of the two state solution.
The response proposed in this document includes the following steps:
Cancel the structural and legislative changes designed to adapt state systems to annexation. This includes abolishing the ‘Settlement Administration’, reframing section 33 of the order establishing the Civil Administration (Order 2195), and as a consequence, abolishing the position of deputy head of the Civil Administration and removing its subordination to the Settlement Administration. In addition, Government Resolution 687 to amend Law 150 (which puts constraints on building in the settlements) will be rescinded, the whole system of enforcement in the West Bank will be thoroughly overhauled, and legal consultation will facilitate genuine judicial review of what is happening in the territories. Discriminatory laws and those that encourage annexation will also be repealed, including: the Property Tax Fund Law, the Municipalities Order Law, and Amendment (Clause 7) to the Disengagement Law.
Stop the settlements and evacuate the outposts and farms that were deliberately established deep inside the territory, creating a disciplinary burden for the IDF, and are intended to prevent Palestinian territorial continuity. In this framework, it is necessary to distinguish between settlements adjacent to the separation fence and the Green Line (in order to facilitate a future settlement with the Palestinians) and those located deep inside the territory. The proposed moves will include halting the process of retroactive authorization of outposts and buildings, promoting a mechanism for strong enforcement against illegal construction, evacuation of outposts and farms, with the emphasis on those used as bases for Jewish terror, cutting budgets for settlements, cancelling the land settlement procedure (rescinding the cabinet resolution of May 2025), exposing the activities of the ‘settlement division’ and subjecting it to controls, stemming the use of archaeology and Jewish tourism as the pretext for increased Israeli control, stopping excess budgets for settlements and enacting an evacuate-compensate and absorption law to encourage the evacuation of outposts and settlements deep inside the territory to within Israel’s borders or to settlement blocs.
Stopping Jewish crime and terror against Palestinians. Promote an explicit government resolution charging the security and enforcement authorities with the formulation of comprehensive and effective plans, and ensuring provision of the necessary resources. There must be better tracking and continuous monitoring of terror activity, and inter-organizational cooperation for active enforcement (including reinstatement of arrest warrants and use of restraining orders) to ensure the activity is stopped. In the second stage, in order to uproot this phenomenon, educational and welfare programs will be set up to deal with young people in circles prone to trouble-making, and to work jointly with moderate elements within the leadership of the settlers and with leading rabbis for this purpose.
Creation of a stable routine for Palestinians, by means of security moves to allow normal life, particularly in Area C and in East Jerusalem. This is partly to prepare for separation from the Palestinians and a political settlement. In this framework, the Palestinian economy will be stabilized, employment and movement between towns will be revived, the banking system will be stabilized and the taxation system upgraded. In addition, there will be a process of family reunification and registering addresses in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Palestinian communities will be returned to their homes and water and electricity infrastructures will be renewed. House demolitions in East Jerusalem and Area C will be halted. The Palestinian Authority will be reformed, with the promotion of joint projects involving the Palestinian Authority with assistance from countries in the region on matters of infrastructure, employment, and the establishment of industrial zones. All this will provide the basis for an ongoing process to promote Palestinian statehood in the framework of a settlement, instead of violent annexation and eternal war between the peoples.
