Cabinet to reportedly discuss partial West Bank annexation at upcoming meeting

The cabinet is expected to discuss annexing certain parts of the West Bank next week, Israeli media reported Thursday, amid growing calls for annexation among right-wing lawmakers.

According to Channel 12 news, the discussion will be held in light of the recently-approved settlement construction plan spearheaded by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which will see some 3,400 housing units built in the West Bank’s contentious E1 area between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

There was no suggestion that a vote will be held on the question of annexation during the meeting, scheduled for Sunday.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the reportedly scheduled discussion or the issues on the cabinet’s agenda.

International pressure had for years successfully dissuaded Israel from building in E1, with critics arguing such a plan would cut the West Bank in two, severing it from East Jerusalem and scuttling the prospect of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Reported plans to consider annexing parts of the West Bank stand to further embitter Israel’s relations with several Western allies, as France and others pledged to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly this September.

The Ynet news site reported Thursday morning that Netanyahu has been holding closed-door talks with senior ministers on the issue of sovereignty in the West Bank. While the government has weighed similar moves in the past without results, details of a closed-door meeting of senior officials last week suggested that “the political climate may create a rare opening for such a step,” the outlet claimed.

Among the senior officials who the report said attended the meeting were Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.

Dermer reportedly voiced clear support for annexation, emphasizing that “the question is over which parts” of the territory.

France considers opening Palestinian embassy

Likud MK Avichai Boaron said in radio interview earlier this week that “the people of Israel” want West Bank sovereignty and that annexation will take place in parallel with the UN General Assembly next month.

Some cabinet ministers like Smotrich, Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strock and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, are also said to be pressing for the move ahead of the General Assembly.

Meanwhile, France is considering opening an embassy in Palestinian Authority-ruled territory in the West Bank, alongside the opening of a Palestinian embassy in France, Ofer Bronchtein, a longtime adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron on Israeli-Palestinian affairs, told Channel 12.

Bronchtein said the move — under consideration at a time of rising diplomatic tensions between Jerusalem and Paris — would be a natural step following France’s promised recognition of a Palestinian state. The French embassy would likely be located in Ramallah, where the PA is based.

The Israeli government opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and has rejected recognition of one as a “prize for terror.”

Bronchtein reiterated his view that a Palestinian state is in Israel’s interest, arguing that the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre would not have happened if there had been a Palestinian state, claiming the stability such a state would provide would have prevented the attack.

The French Embassy in Israel did not respond to a request for comment on Bronchtein’s remarks.

Smotrich presses for Gaza annexation

Also Thursday, Smotrich delivered a speech demanding the government start annexing parts of the Gaza Strip, should Hamas continue to refuse to lay down its weapons.

At a Jerusalem press conference Thursday, the far-right minister presented his plan to “win in Gaza by the end of the year,” in which he proposed Israel issue an ultimatum to Hamas — disarm and release the hostages, or face piecemeal annexation on a weekly basis.

According to the minister, Palestinians would first be told to move south in Gaza, as Israel imposes a siege on the territory’s north and center to weed out remaining Hamas strongholds. The plan would end with annexation, Smotrich said, claiming that most of the territory would be brought under full Israeli control within four weeks.

The entire plan “can be achieved in three to four months,” he stated, calling on Netanyahu “to adopt this plan in full immediately.”

Netanyahu said earlier this month that while Israel plans to take military control of Gaza, “We don’t want to keep it.”

“We want to have a security perimeter, but we don’t want to govern [Gaza]. We don’t want to be there as a governing body,” he told Fox News.

The prime minister said that Israel wants to “hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly, without threatening us, and giving the Gazans a good life.”

Netanyahu also told a group of visiting Indian journalists, according to the English-language CNN-News18, that, “Our plan is not to occupy or annex Gaza. Our goal is to destroy Hamas and get our hostages back, and then hand over Gaza to a transitory government.”