Even without annexation, Israel has imposed ‘almost full’ sovereignty over the West Bank: Analysis

As the Knesset advances a bill to annex the occupied West Bank, Israel’s control of the Palestinian territory already goes beyond occupation to “almost full Israeli sovereignty,” according to a Palestinian academic. “[Annexation] doesn’t bring a lot of changes on the ground, but of course has significant political implications in terms of what is the destiny of Palestinians,” Walid Habbas, a researcher at the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies, told Al Jazeera. “We all know that the two-state solution is already dead; however, it remains in the International discourse, but annexation would end any ability to manoeuvre in this political discourse.” Habbas said there is widespread consensus now in Israel that the occupied West Bank should be considered part of “Greater Israel”, but the question now is how to move forward with official annexation and how the international community would respond. “The United States administration and also Netanyahu think this is not a good time to open such a hot issue from the point of the international community and maybe later would be more [advantageous],” he said. “[But] Israel has already de facto moved all the responsibilities from the military to civilians as the settlers are now running the situation in the West Bank.” Subscribe to our channel: bit.ly
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