Redrawing the map of the West Bank: Israel 'continues to advance'

Fait accompli

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to “redraw the map of the West Bank” during a campaign rally in the settlement of Maale Adumim, a theme that apparently helped the 70-year-old politician “distract” voters amid his troubles with corruption charges. Israel will hold new elections on March 2, and Netanyahu is hoping to win a fifth term as prime minister after failing to secure enough votes to form a government in previous elections.

For Mr. Netanyahu, the issue of territory has always been a “political card” to attract votes in elections. And this time, the advantage came to him when 2 weeks ago, US President Donald Trump announced the Middle East Peace Plan - an agreement that is said to give Israel many things it has long wanted, including US recognition of settlements and Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu presents a map of the West Bank. Photo: AFP

Immediately after the US released the Middle East Peace Plan, many observers commented that the plan would never come true, peace would never come to Israel and Palestine. That comment was correct but only in the second part. Because when this plan was strongly opposed by Palestine and many Arab countries as well as the world, Israel quickly seized the opportunity and planned to realize it. Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he would quickly follow the US proposal, specifically annexing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, the land that Israel has maintained military occupation since the 1967 Middle East war.

The West Bank now includes East Jerusalem, a quarter northwest of the Dead Sea. The international community has long considered Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law. So, instead of giving Israel the green light to build settlements in the West Bank, the US has now also created an umbrella for Israel to annex the settlements into its territory.

If this plan is implemented, the opportunity for the Palestinians to have their own independent state as they wish will be completely “extinguished”, or in other words, what Palestine has lost will be lost forever. According to the statement of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union on February 8, the US “deal of the century” will only escalate the danger of threatening the security of the region and losing the chance for peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (right) attends the announcement ceremony of President Donald Trump's Middle East Peace Plan. Photo: Reuters

The winner decides the game.

Up to this point, it must be affirmed that the game called “Middle East peace” has always brought victory to Israel thanks to the “backing of the US”. Since 1967, after Israel illegally occupied Palestinian lands, Tel Aviv has never lost land but only expanded its territory. Meanwhile, the Palestinians have always struggled in vain to build an independent state, free from the yoke of Israeli occupation.

Decades later, Israel has become a modern, prosperous Western nation, while Palestinians remain mired in poverty. With each passing year, Israeli incomes and living standards rise, while Palestinians continue to feel they have no future or hope. The past decade has been the safest and most prosperous in Israel’s history. After decades of fighting sporadic wars and entrenching settlements, Israel now appears to have the power to prevent a Palestinian state from being created, while Palestinian groups no longer have the opportunity to threaten Israel’s existence.

Israeli flag in Jerusalem (right); Map of Israel today. Photo: Reuters - BBC

The protection of Palestine is the voice and recognition of the international community. Up to now, the relevant resolutions of the United Nations have aimed at a fair, comprehensive and sustainable solution to the long-standing Israel/Palestine conflict based on the principle of two states peacefully coexisting, according to which Israel must withdraw from the illegally occupied territories, Palestine must establish an independent state along the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. However, the United States, with its unilateral decisions, has always helped Israel gain favorable opportunities and gradually become the winner on the Middle East chessboard.

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, what will happen in the coming time will probably be more unstable and complicated. Israel will “use” the US Peace Plan as an excuse to be more aggressive in its ambitions. Redrawing the map of the West Bank is just a part of that.

In case Israel and Palestine sit down at the negotiating table, Tel Aviv will only accept the conditions that have been “guaranteed” by the US in the Peace Plan. As for Palestine, they will never follow the plan arranged by the Americans, when all the terms are disadvantageous to them. If Palestine agrees to the US plan, it means “surrendering” to Israel and accepting “land for peace” in violation of its own basic principles.

Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, November 26, 2019. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

Throughout history, the victors have always dictated the final terms of peace. Is that fair? Probably not. But that is how the world works. A war does not end because both sides are tired. It ends when one side, the loser, realizes they can no longer fight and decides what is acceptable before things get worse. That may be the strategy the United States is applying to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today.