A large mural reading "The People are Against an Annexation" was set up Friday morning less than 150 feet from the IDF and Defense Ministry Headquarters.
The 30X30-meter (100X100-feet) mural can be read from the building, which holds the headquarters of the IDF General Staff s well as that of military intelligence.
According to the display's organizers, the yellow mural was painted on the Tel Aviv Museum of Arts square in the heart of the city in tribute a similar display painted by the Black Lives Matter movement.
(Video credit: Eldad Aloni - People Against Annexation)
"This first act of protest was chosen in tribute to the activities of the Black Lives Matter movement and in reference to the mural painted on the road leading to the White House," a statement put out by the organizers said.
"There, much like in Israel," said the organizers, "the African-American protest movement showcases the obliviousness of the government and the citizens' sense that something bad is happening, that the citizens and their real needs are not seen."
Israel was set to apply its sovereignty to 30% of the West Bank as early as July 1, introducing its civil law to the area currently under martial law. Initially planning to annex the Jordan Valley, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a late-May interview the valley's Palestinian localities will remain as enclaves.
"They will remain as Palestinian enclaves," the prime minister said, adding that besides Jericho, home to around 20,000 Palestinians, "there is a cluster or two. You do not need to apply sovereignty over them." According to Netanyahu, "they will remain Palestinian subjects, if you will. But the security control applies to that, too."
In late May, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the Palestinian Authority (PA) was "absolved" of all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US. Following the announcement, security coordination between the Palestinian Security Forces and the IDF was terminated.
In June, the PA's security services were "ordered to destroy confidential documents in our possession and have obeyed this order" fearing IDF raids, according to a source cited by AFP. The source added the directives came from "high up."
The annexation plans were met with criticism among left-wing and pro-Palestinian circles, being equated to the state of racial segregation in South Africa, known as Apartheid.
"Freelancers, unemployed citizens and [coronavirus] patients will be the first ones to pay the annexation's incredible price - over NIS 50 billion ($14.55 billion)," People Against Annexation said in late June.
"Soldiers from all of [Israel] will have to deal with the intifada [Palestinian uprising] that will break out, and when there will be apartheid, none of us will be able to look in the mirror."
On July 1, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office said "more discussions" concerning the annexation will "take place the following days." Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis told Army Radio the plan "will only happen after a declaration" of US President Donald Trump.
"If we will not wake up right now, we will not have a country to wake up to," the protest movement's organizers said. "This is exactly what those pushing the annexation want. For us to be confused, scared, remain indifferent and hopeless."
The movement continued, saying it "will not give up our fundamental right to be in our sovereign state; we will not give up on hope and we will not let them paint our horizon black."
In late May, PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Saeb Erekat told NGO Peace Now an Israeli annexation would lead to the collapse of the PA. The IDF also began preparing for the possibility of a third Palestinian uprising in light of the annexation.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh reportedly said there will be a "hot summer" in Israel and the Palestinian territories if an annexation takes place. Last week, the official said the PA would unilaterally declare a Palestinian state in West Bank and the Gaza Strip based on the 1949 armistice lines, also known as the Green Line.
On Thursday, the PA's ruling faction Fatah and Hamas organized a joint press conference, vowing to cooperate in their response to an Israeli annexation.