Annexation is Israel’s decision – now decide

This seems like a simple assertion. In a way, it’s stating the obvious. Of course, the Israeli government will decide what to do about its own country.

By LAHAV HARKOV
A view of the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, Jan. 28, 2020. (photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)
A view of the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, Jan. 28, 2020.
(photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)
It is a refrain we have heard over and over again from the Trump administration: Annexation is Israel’s decision.
US Secretary of State Pompeo said it last month and he reiterated it on his visit to Israel this week. Senior State Department officials repeated it in their briefing on the way back from Israel.
US Ambassador David Friedman said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post last week: “We will be ready to address this issue if Israel is ready. Ultimately, as Secretary Pompeo said, it’s Israel’s decision. They have to decide what they want to do.”
This seems like a simple assertion. In a way, it’s stating the obvious. Of course, the Israeli government will decide what to do about its own country.
As Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, famously said: “Our future does not depend on what the gentiles say, rather on what the Jews will do.”
But at the same time, it’s astoundingly naïve for diplomats to imply that Israel is making this decision in a vacuum. Long gone are the days in which former prime minister Menachem Begin ushered the Golan Heights Law through three Knesset votes in one day, angering then-US president Ronald Reagan.
Yes, the Knesset will cast the final votes on sovereignty, should the government decide to apply it to the West Bank. But annexation bills have been proposed again and again over the years, and there was very little movement, and concern over the international reaction has always been one of the reasons. And those concerns are still very real; EU Foreign Ministers are holding a meeting on Friday during which they plan to discuss whether to threaten Israel with sanctions if it annexes, such as stopping the significant European support for Israeli scientific research.
And the influence of forces outside of Israel go the other way, as well. Annexation was never taken nearly as seriously as a realistic possibility as it is now, precisely because now there is American support in the form of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
The peace plan states that Israel can set its eastern border and include in its sovereign land all of the settlements in the West Bank, as well as the Jordan Valley. The rest of the West Bank, some 70%, would be reserved for a future Palestinian state, to be established under conditions set by the peace plan, including stopping incitement to terrorism and giving its citizens civil rights.
So, annexation is not really just an Israeli decision. But the Trump administration already gave Israel a green light, set out a plan for movement – the US-Israel mapping committee to determine the borders has started work and Israel has to invite the Palestinians to the negotiating table – and maintains it is up to Israel whether to move forward or not.
The source for this line of reasoning goes back to when Trump announced he was going to come up with a plan for Israel and the Palestinians.
Back in 2017, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House for the first time, Trump said: “I am looking at two-state, and one-state and I like the one that both parties like... I can live with either one... But honestly, if Bibi, and if the Palestinians, if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I’m happy with the one they like the best.”
The following year, at the UN General Assembly, Trump said: “If the Israeli and Palestinians want one state, that’s okay with me. If they want two states, that’s okay with me. I’m happy if they’re happy. I’m a facilitator. I want to see if I can get a deal done so that people don’t get killed anymore.”
Following Trump’s cue, the US sees its job as facilitating a deal, not forcing it.
At the same time, the Trump administration doesn’t want to be messed around, and there has growing frustration with the prolonged political crisis in Israel – something Trump also expressed publicly. They had hoped for a new stable government that would move forward on the plan, of which annexation is one of the first steps. They used their political capital for a plan that was drafted in close coordination with Netanyahu, and now there’s a new government that may not want to follow it.
Yes, the coalition agreement says a vote on annexation can be held on July 1 at the earliest. But it also does not commit the government to it either way.
The US administration is open to hearing what the nascent Israeli government wants. The problem is they are not getting clear answers yet.
When Pompeo, Friedman and others say the decision is Israel’s, they mean it. But they’re also saying: Make a decision already.