A key figure in Israel's Likud Party, a member of the government's security cabinet and minister of two cabinet portfolios, announced this week that Israel's annexation of the West Bank might take “a few more days or weeks” beyond 1 July, till the mapping process is finalised. “I know they're working on the map, and that process could take some more time,” he said. “1 July is the first day when the matter can be brought to the cabinet and the Knesset. It could possibly take a few more days or weeks, but generally I think the prime minister is very clear that he intends to advance this”, Zeev Elkin, minister of higher education and water resources, was quoted as saying to Israel's Army Radio. Elkin added that the overall situation shows that the mapping process will be completed “sometime in July”. Under the recent coalition government deal between Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rival Benny Gantz, Israel declared that the annexation plan will be brought to the cabinet and the Knesset by 1 July. Netanyahu has continuously stressed his determination to move forward with this controversial plan. He recently noted that extending Israel's sovereignty to its settlements and the Jordan Valley would take place after a joint committee between the Israelis and the Americans completes a map of the actual territory that will be annexed and the status of each part of it. This is the only reason for any delay. The overall policy remains unchanged. Israeli insistence on annexing the West Bank comes in light of US President Donald Trump's peace plan that was drafted by his administration. The plan recognises Jerusalem as “Israel's eternal and undivided capital”. It also gives Israel absolute security control over the occupied Palestinian territories and a Palestinian capital in only East Jerusalem's northern and eastern areas. For the Palestinians, they want a two-state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Practically, Trump moved the US Embassy in Jerusalem, and stopped funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). The Palestinian Authority, so far, enjoys the support of the Arab League and the European Union. The latter has engaged in a war of words with Israel over its annexation plans, warning against the political and security implications. But the Israelis are not happy with the pro-Palestinian, European position. Even China stepped in to offer a similar vision. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent a letter to his Palestinian counterpart, Riad Malki, to stress “deep concern about the unilateral plan to annex parts of the Palestinian territories.” For China, Israel's plan “contravenes international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions”. Beijing called on Israel to avoid unilaterally annexing the West Bank to avoid an escalation in the conflict, calling on the United States to “take a responsible position towards the history and long-term interests of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples”. This week, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) publicly said that the annexation of the West Bank would negatively affect the peace process. “Continued Israeli talk of annexing Palestinian lands must stop,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted. “Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self-determination [and] constitute a rejection of the international [and] Arab consensus towards stability [and] peace,” he added.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 4 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
