Israel is the only nation without official borders. Its longstanding policy calls for redrawing the Middle East map.
It aims to annex more territory, including from neighboring states and all valued parts of Judea and Samaria.
Ahead of last April’s Israeli elections, Netanyahu said the following:
“A Palestinian state will endanger our existence (sic), and I withstood huge pressure over the past eight years (sic). No prime minister has withstood such pressure (sic). We must control our destiny,” adding:
“Will we move ahead to the next stage? Yes. I will extend sovereignty, but I don’t distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones, because each settlement is Israeli, and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty.”
“I will not divide Jerusalem. I will not evacuate any community, and I will make sure we control the territory west of Jordan…I promised and it will happen at the soonest opportunity.”
At the time, Israel’s Channel 13 said Netanyahu is “more ready than ever” to annex and extend Israeli law to the settlements.
Israel controls the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem, annexation if occurs to formalize what already exists.
On Tuesday, feeding red meat to his base pre-election next week, Netanyahu said if reelected he’ll annex the Jordan Valley.
It’s around 30% of West Bank territory. He called Trump’s no-peace/peace plan a “historic opportunity” to annex Palestinian land, adding:
“…I want to apply sovereignty in the communities and other areas with maximum coordination with the US.”
“But there is one place where it is possible to apply Israeli sovereignty immediately after the election.”
“Today I am announcing my intention to apply, with the formation of the next government, Israeli sovereignty on the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea.”
Netanyahu wants all settlements annexed, earlier saying:
“All the settlements, without exception, those that are in blocs and those that aren’t, need to remain under Israeli sovereignty. This will happen.”
On Tuesday, a Trump regime statement said
“(t)here is no change in United States policy at this time. We will release our vision for peace (sic) after the Israeli election and work to determine the best path forward to bring long sought security, opportunity and stability to the region (sic).”
Joint (Arab) List chairman Ayman Odeh called Netanyahu’s campaign propaganda his “vision of apartheid.”
Israel controls the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem, including illegal settlements, outposts, military areas, no-go zones, checkpoints and other barriers, nature reserves, commercial areas, by-pass roads, and the separation wall — constructed more for land theft than security.
According to StoptheWall.org:
“The Wall is an integral part of the Zionist project to remove Palestinians from Palestine.”
It’s being built on 10% or more of Palestinian land. B’Tselem said its construction “la(id) the groundwork for” annexing the settlements, including “much land for their future expansion.”
It’s part of Israel’s plan to isolate Palestinian communities from each other. Still under construction, its 712 km route is double the Green Line’s length — the 1949 armistice lines established between Israel and neighboring Arab states.
Israel seized West Jerusalem in 1948, the remainder in 1967, formally and illegally annexing the UN-designated international city in 1980.
Years earlier, a two-state solution was possible, no longer. Netanyahu and majority hardline MKs reject the idea.
Israel has virtual control over the entire West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza by blockading and isolating the Strip.
Whether Netanyahu is reelected or defeated next week won’t matter for Palestinians.
Their fundamental rights are denied no matter what ruling coalition is formed — including no chance for self-determination, free from repressive occupation.
In response to Netanyahu’s Tuesday remarks, PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi tweeted the following:
“Netanyahu’s cheap pandering to his extremist racist base exposes his real political agenda of superimposing ‘greater Israel’ on all of historical Palestine & carrying out an ethnic cleansing agenda. All bets are off! Dangerous aggression. Perpetual conflict.”
That’s how it’s always been since creation of the Jewish state on stolen Palestinian land.
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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
