I can only hope that Netanyahu is ousted. But I fear that will not be the case. This will be yet another trigger for Palestinian unrest with subsequent violence and deaths. And make no mistake, the killings of the Palestinians will far outnumber those of the Israelis. Under Bibi, there is no hope for a two-state resolution. And the recent tumultuous history in that region of the world dictates that justice and some sort of equality for two different ideologies, religions, and cultures is the only road to peace.
46
I have always been pro Israeli and pro Palestinian. This may have been possible 40 years ago. Sadly the possibility of coexistence seems to be out of reach. Many Israelis and those settling the West Bank illegally have apparently accepted this. Unfortunately, they have also accepted the reality of living in a police state for the rest of their lives and their children’s lives. It will not only be the Palestinians who suffer. This was not the future the founders of Israel had in mind as a refuge for their children after world war 2. Apparently, their grandchildren and even the jewish children who were not born in Israel and still go to settle the West Bank for biblical reasons have accepted it as their future. Arabs may be quiet for now. Israel may be strong for now. The future of Israel, even if there is a surrender and someday assimilation of Palestinians, has to be accepted by the Arab world surrounding it. This as a possible future reality is hard to imagine. I fear for the Jews in the Middle East.
3
I hope the democratic candidates are asked about this situation
this week.
3
Proving Netanyahu does not want peace but just another piece of Palestine
11
Netanyahu is doing enormous damage to formerly bi-partisan support for Israel in the United States -- I say this as a Jew with strong emotional ties to the country. Objectively, his behavior is traitorous.
11
Once again, let us note that this is of Netanyahu’s own making where he’s pulling a full “Jeffery Epstein” on the Palestinians and world. Like the Wall Street looting, this action will have global ramifications with war, social and economic dislocation beginning the region and moving on to Africa and thus to the rest of the world. If Stephen Miller opposes refugees immigration, think what this will create. When is enough, enough!
5
The obvious thing to do now is for Israel to relinquish the territory encompassing the mostly Arab cities and villages in its northeast to the new Palestinian State, and for Israel and Egypt to grant additional territory to that state adjacent to Gaza. I am sure that the Israeli Arabs would be thrilled to be part of Palestine, instead of Israel. Right?
2
Surely blaming Trump and Netanyahu for this latest (promised) annexation is whitewashing what has been going on in Israel since the Clinton era. All you have to do is look at the size of the West Bank today compared to its borders in the 90’s to know that the leadership in both countries have supported and sanctioned this illegal land grab for decades.
7
How about mentioning the Israeli legal position that experts say actually has good foundation? Rather than occupied territory west bank is disputed conquered territory due to the lack of a legally established state in the area prior to 1967. There are a number of international precedents of conquered territories being integrated into adjacent states.
3
People are characterizing Netanyahu's pledge to annex the West Bank or parts of it as a campaign stunt. I do not see it that way.
Yes, the timing is election campaign oriented but the way I see it what really counts here is that this and will be done while Trump is president. While other presidents would give Israel tons of flak for doing this, Trump will open up a consulate there.
3
Just a last ditch attempt to take support from other right wing parties. He has survived before but this time it seems to me he will votes out and a unity right center government most likely
2
The one thing I never understood was why the West Bank was considered an illegal occupation while, for instance, the United States of America or Taiwan for instance, is not. Certainly both lands were "won" in a war much like the West Bank despite different styles of warfare. Hasn't battle determined borders throughout the history of man? Is this why its so difficult to disabuse ourselves of the idea that Israel is entitled to the land "won" in the 6-day war. OR, is it simply because Israel didn't star the 6-day war so who cares what the Arabs want now? I favor giving the Palestinians their own country however, it cannot be to their benefit and the detriment of Israel. Both must survive in good standing and in decent shape for the citizens. Doesn't seem impossible, just another failure of political will. The hallmark of the 21st Century.
5
What irony that eighty years ago the Septemberübung marked the annexation of parts of Poland by another strongman to “rightfully return to Germany what is German”? How can this history and its resulting terrible consequences be forgotten by the Jewish people today, as much as the Exodus from Europe led to the formation of its State. Why is annexation assumed to be a great idea, without consequences, just to join the ranks of other strongman annexers?
11
Look Bibi, if your serious, why not just be done with it and promise to take the whole enchillada. You might as well, because the turmoil that will result in a partial annexation will require a military take over of the West Bank. Plus the war that will follow will require manning much more border, i.e. the remaining West Bank border along with existing borders between countries surrounding Israel.
3
The Palestinians certainly have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. In 1948 after the dust had cleared why did they accept Jordan taking over their lives? Why didn't they rule the West Bank themselves? After the 1967 War Israel had a liberal government who wanted a comprehensive peace with all the Arab countries but the Palestinians bet on winning a future war. That gamble did not work out at all. When the Israelis abandoned Gaza what did the Palestinians do but start a series of skirmishes. Without setting bombs off in Israel they wouldn't have had the barriers erected to make life miserable. There actions helped usher in a reactionary government in Israel who ate up more of the West Bank. As the years go by chances for their own state dim.
4
What does Jordan think of this?
1
“I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.”
Auden
Apparently it applies to countries too.
10
Beautiful news!
The Israelis will continue to do wonderful things with the land.
5
No court of law has ever ruled on the lawfulness of Israeli resettlement of their own lands. The opinion of some academics from some Law School is less than dicte. It's a nothing.
3
By stating that this is a one time opportunity that won’t happen again for at least 50 years because a presidency like Trump’s, Bibi admits that this terrible for America.
6
I will now officially say I will never visit the state of Israel. As a New Yorker (albeit not jewish) I have many many friends and clients who are from or visit regularly and have always been fascinated and curious myself. But this aggression and alignment w our own American monster in chief makes that impossible.
Both countries need to SNAP out of it before its too late :(
13
Before Mr. Netanyahu continues his imitation of the modern persecutors of European Jews in his aim of cleansing Israel of all Palestinians, as a final Israeli solution, the Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities need to have a serious dialogue on which Israeli government they cannot, for reasons of common ethical values, ever support. Since most of the world’s Jews seem uninterested in permanent residence in Israel, what’s the point of identifying a country as one only for Jews that has always been also claimed as a legal residence of the 750 000 Palestinians in 1947 whom European Jewish refugees displaced? At the time the refugees found only an 80,000 Jewish minority resident there. Even the United Nations, in its recognition of the state of Israel, also recognized the legal residential rights of the Palestinian Arabs. The argument that Israel ought to be a country by, for, and of Jews has never been recognized by a majority of Christians, the U.N. General Assembly, and Muslims.
10
It is on voters next week in Israel to put a stop to this. Accountability starts and ends at the ballot box.
Similarly, it is on voter in the US to put a stop to this next November. Again, accountability starts and stops at the ballot box. This includes those who were too lazy or to busy to get out and vote in 2016.
7
Mr. Netanyahu and the Israelis don't want to tackle the hard issue. What to do with the Palestinian majority. They want to continue to take away their resources, opportunities, freedoms and hope for a better tomorrow. They want to continue to squeeze them into less and less land, restrict travel, restrict trade, restrict access to family, health care and education. They are accelerating the pace of separation of Jews and non Jews, moving the life for non Jews to the edge of human misery. Netanyahu is growing the myth that the model of equality for the Jews can be accepted in practice as inequality for the Palestinians. It is a destructive model that has failed in the past. We don't need another example to prove that we can fail again.
8
It’s pathetic that Netanyahu has to beg for votes from the political right, in order to survive politically, staving off indictment charges.
This morning the Arab League – an organisation of 22 states – condemned his plan to annex part of the occupied West Bank, drawing criticism from Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Apart from calling Netanyahu's plan a "dangerous development" that would violate international law and "torpedo" the foundations of peace etc, the Arab world is indifferent to Palestinian national aspirations, because its leaders are preoccupied with Iran, seeing Israel as a potential ally.
Daniel B. Shapiro, the former ambassador to Israel under Obama, is right about US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank being “short-lived,” if a Democrat beats Trump in 2020.
Vice versa Netanyahu’s electoral defeat next week could dampen pro-Israel American voters’ enthusiasm for Trump next year. This could prove their undoing that their political fate has become so intertwined.
5
Please read between the lines
Nothing new is happening in the sense that this is only stage one in the Trump Peace Initiative
The next stage is funding of infrastructure for the West Bank and Gaza region for upwards of 60 billion dollars
It will and can work
2
Colonialism funded by 5 billion of American dollars each year, what a disillusion.
19
When I came to the US in the 80s I didn't bargain for this kind of obsession with the Middle East, and that too tribalistic Israel. When did the proud independent United States of America become United States of Israel. Do people not think anymore? Israel is a nice country, but it controls the US too much.
18
Israelis always express great outrage that a stated goal of the PLO and groups like Hamas has been to see that Israel does not exist. Their outrage is proper and well placed. It is a heinous goal. However, it seems to me that Israel, though it does not state the goal, has long been doing the same thing to the Palestinians. Look at maps of Israeli settlements over decades (settlements considered illegal by much of the world and built contra to UN resolution 242 which demanded that Israel return land acquired in war per the UN charter). It is plain that with settlements and now possibly with annexation Israel is trying to make it impossible for Palestinians to remain on their land and impossible for them to have a state of their own.
I am not a supporter of either side in this struggle as I see rights of both. I also see that each behaves badly at times, each believes that it is the only victim, and each believes that the other should just go away and/or has no right to be there.
Sad that Mr. Trump, who knows little about history and certainly lacks depth of knowledge in world affairs could with his outsized ego influence the lives and futures of millions.
16
It's time to face the fact that a Palestinian state already exists on three fifths of historic Israel / Palestine. It is called Jordan and it is currently occupied by a tinpot non-Palestinian monarch with a terrifying secret police and a complicit Palestinian Authority across the river -- complicit because the moment the indigenous majority population of Jordan takes over the world will no longer clamor for a Palestinian state in the heart of the Jewish historic homeland. Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria are what make Israel Jewish, not Tel Aviv, Haifa or Eilat. To cut the Jewish heart out of Israel is not an option. To recognize Jordan as Palestinian is, and could do wonders to resolve this festering issue.
8
Trump needs only to take a tip from Bibi. Annex Mexico. Then build a wall on the Mexico/Guatemala/Belize border. Much shorter (and cheaper), and Mexico would then, more-or-less, build it, as Trump has stipulated. America would benefit from the continued flow of inexpensive, short, brown-skinned laborers.
Win/Win/Win.
6
What would happen if Netanyahu and his Zionists were to win the next Israeli election, and annex the West Bank's Jordan Valley?
Hopefully, were this to occur, the US would do the right thing, and halt any and all future US financial aid to this expansionist Netanyahu regime.
Hopefully, were this to occur, the US would lead the rest of the United Nations, in condemning this illegal expropriation of Palestinian territory.
Hopefully, there are some "good guys" left in the US government, who will do the right thing.
8
Israel will never give up the West Bank.
They can't afford to become a 'very thin' country again. ....it's too hard to defend.....look at the map.
Most Israelis live within 25 miles of the border with the West Bank.
Or am I missing something here?
8
Yes, you are missing the fact that with or without the annexion Israel will always be, in regard to modern warfare, a "thin" country.
So defense is not the point.
It is very simply about Bibi trying to get reelected by appealling to the most fondamentalist and intolerant religious forces of the country.
Both fascinating and depressing coming from Israel, but alas not surprising.
3
NYT, among your comment picks in articles about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there is invariably at least one that will reference 1967 as a war of aggression by the Arabs, and another the incredible deal offered to the Palestinians by Ehud Barak. Less common but no less erroneous references the flower green houses given to the Gazans by Sharon. These are all refuted narratives and at best highly debatable. Frequently repeated history is not the same as actual history. Rather than letting readers muddle blindly through these issues and repeat erroneous information how about publishing comprehensive articles that address the most common points of contention from all perspectives including quotes by the leaders of that time no matter how unflattering to their own cause (and I know there are a few).
11
A good many commentators are getting a bit over wrought over nothing more than a pandering political election ploy. The Israeli PM has no authority in his country to any annexation. Period. Further, this has nothing to do with Trump who has not even commented on it and has no say so, but he might say so. So the NY Times and many commentators here and get sucker punched. This has about as much validity as all the other campaign promise. Even the PM's right-wing supporters are laughing at it. Is it too early for a Scotch or too late?
3
Terrible idea. This will kill any chance for peace in a 2-state solution and inflame the Palestinians more than ever and drive them to constant guerilla warfare and suicide bombings. The original spirit of Zionism, the Balfour Declaration and subsequent British pronouncements during the Mandatory period was to grant to the Jews a safe haven in their own State within Palestine, not in all of it. They were to live alongside the Palestinian Arabs in peace and the Holy Sites were to be protected for the three major religions. True, the Palestinians have consistently rejected the whole idea but there was always hope that with Netanyahu out, Palestine freed from Hamas, a responsible Palestinian leadership, and closer ties between Israel and the Arab states, eventually they would come around for their own good and prosperity. This land grab by Netyanyahu will eventually spell disaster for Israel. He has to be thrown out of office next week along with Trump in 2020.
2
@styleman
It's not just the leaders.
Polls show that most Palestinians don't want a 2-state solution.
They want Palestine from the River to the Sea.
2
Only West is getting riled about Netanyahu decision, here we dont think Netanyahu is god or his decision is final word for eternity. Only the fight to claim their rights (Palestinian) got more ferocious. No problem here.
3
Bottom line, Might is right. History is full of examples where underdog took on mighty and eventually becomes victorious. David and Goliath.... oops wrong example.
3
It seems as though Israel has violated so many International laws for so long that there is nothing morally wrong with what Netanyahu is proposing nor should it be regarded as an international crime. The Palestinian people have become unpeople the same way Native Americans, black South Africans, Australian Aborigines were not regarded as actual people that count. In fact they were regarded as the aggressors. Very few supported their human rights and that was considered appropriate.
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history." - Hegel
8
Israel has done bad stuff for a long time. What so many Americans don't know is that we're headline news the world over every time we veto UN resolutions condemning Israel. Then things like 9/11 happen.
Israel is not our friend. I'm not sure that they ever have been.
7
For those that say the Arabs attacked Israel in 1967. Of course Israel carried out what it called a preemptive strike but this is the first time I see an Israeli official describe it as an opportunity for territorial expansion. The existential fears in the Israeli narrative don’t ring so true when I read something like this.
“We haven’t had such an opportunity since the Six Day War, and I doubt we’ll have another opportunity in the next 50 years,”
10
Netanyahu is indicted for corruption and theft of government money, and now he wants to steal a third of the West Bank? We need to stop the madness. Thus US used to be an honest broker here, but no longer. Our government is now as corrupt as Netanyahu's.
6
What so many continue to forget that until a Palestinian state gets established, Israelis are allowed to live in the West Bank as it continues to be seen as disputed territory belonging to Israel. If they really do want them to remove all the settlements, then the Palestinians should start agreeing to a peace deal ASAP. However, another thing that so many tend to forget is that Jews have been living there for ages except when the time it was under control by Jordan and that they're forced to leave or be killed. The proof that they have always been living there has been proven by artifacts that were found. Let's not forget the language the Dead Sea scrolls that were found there were written in, which happens to be Hebrew, not Arabic. Even many of the names of the ancient cities that are in West Bank had Jewish names yet the anti-Israel fanatics continue to deny that. The original name Judea meant land of the Jews as what the country was originally known that dates back to as early as almost 1300 BC when Abraham founded the very religion there. Meanwhile, Arabs got their name because they originated from Arabia, which is the present day Arabian Peninsula. The main reason why Israel won't be withdrawing any further settlements until a peace deal is made in the West Bank is because they saw what happened when they did this back in 2005 with the Gaza Strip and Hamas has been attacking them ever since making them feel that a similar event may happen here as well.
9
I think that there is a high probability that, at least in the short term, Netanyahu will gain effective U.S. acquiesce in this. He doesn't need a majority of Jewish Americans, much less Americans as a whole, to support him, just some, particularly donors, plus Christian evangelicals. My guess that pro-Israel organizations and politicans might momentarily criticize annexation or expansion of settlements, but, just as they did with the racist or near racist nation-state law, soon go back to advocating for Israel. Reflexive support for Israel is based on multiple things (including ethnic nationalism and ingrained religious belief), but, at this point, I think it safe to say, democratic principles are not one of them.
2
Israel is a democracy. As such, its government and people must be held to a higher standard, the same as governments and citizens of France, the U.S., etc. Arrogating other people’s land, building Jewish-only settlements on that land, walling off Palestinians into impoverished hamlets — how are these things fundamentally different from Indian Removal in 19th century America, the Jim Crow South, or Apartheid-era South Africa? Those latter systems of extreme discrimination and theft had few international defenders but many behind the scenes collaborators and enablers. It is inconvenient to stand up for what is right. It is difficult to make one’s views public and be labeled anti-Semitic. But it is time to end business as usual. As uncomfortable as it may be, it is time to end attending conferences, holding concerts, or visiting Israel as tourists. It is time to stop buying Israeli products if there are viable alternatives. Israelis will not change their governance of Palestinians without sustained international opprobrium and action. The most important thing Americans can do is make this known to our own political representatives — write them, demonstrate, vote, and boycott.
7
Everybody knows that the Bible, the founding document giving rise to the present conflict and establishing all the historical "homeland" claims involved, is fundamentally about expulsion and exile, & the types of anguish and longing that ensues. From Adam and Eve to the Hebrew Tribes' "exile" ("golus" in Hebrew) in Egypt, the 40 years in the desert, and the final, and the final, unended (even with the establishment of the State of Israel) exile following the Temple's destruction, the suffering of exile & longing for the lost homeland is THE central theme of the Bible. Among the 3 or 4 key moments of Moses' life is being disqualified from "returning" to Israel. And of course, there is Abraham's banishment, at Sarah's behest, of Ishmael, setting in motion the conflict continuing today.
The Jewish religion is all about this exile, and most of its practices assume our role in the world is to "do exile well," striving for spiritual attainments to make us worthy of redemption. As important as Israel may be, exile is the fundamental Jewish reality, & nothing is more Jewish than longing to return, but trapped in exile.
Any Arabs/Palestinians who find themselves deprived of their "homeland" should realize that this sense of home is always the dream the Abrahamic faiths carry in their hearts; at the heart of Jewish faith is that as long as you carry this dream in your heart and seek to be worthy of redemption, that is worthiness is the only mission; it can be carried out anywhere.
1
The White House said in a statement that there was “no change in United States policy at this time,” and confirmed that the administration’s long-promised Middle East peace plan would be released after the election.
If he has a plan, it should be released as soon as possible to save lives. But I bet this promise is no better than the one he made to release his taxes. "after the election"--Bah! Everything he does he does as a con-man.
1
So Netanyahu announces a move that is certain to inflame violence and terrorism - and cost lives - which he'll then exploit to energize his base, justify more draconian actions, and secure his re-election.
And all with the full backing of Trump and his administration - Bibi's enablers.
4
Why is this acceptable to the US administration while the annexation by Russia of the Crimea is not?
10
@David Adams
Russia had signed an agreement recognizing the borders & territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russia's annexation of the Crimea violated that agreement.
There are no official borders between Israel & Palestine so if Netanyahu annexes part of the West Bank, we don't even know if that was actually Palestine or Israel. Official borders are set by treaty. There is no treaty between Israel & Palestine setting borders.
2
@m1945
The people of Crimea voted in a referendum regarding Russian annexation. They voted strongly in favour of the annexation.
Will the Palestinian people be given a vote?
2
Netanyahu proposes acknowledging a 50-year-old reality. Only by geologic timescale of the Middle East "peace process" could such a commonplace qualify as a shock. Maybe 100 years from now the disputing parties will finally acknowledge that they've hated each other all along and can't compromise on anything.
2
Trump, Netanyahu, Putin have in common a propensity to push the limits in pursuit of an objective, with no respect for law, ethics, morality.
They will push, assess, push some more, etc., and will not stop until they obtain their goal, or until someone or some thing stops them.
In light of history, would it be too much to ask our leaders to heed painful lessons from the past?
The PLO decided to amend its charter back in the 80's and recognized Israel based on the 1967 war borders. 19 years ago the Oslo accord was singed to establish the Palestinian Authority and begins the peace process to establish an independent & sovereign Palestinian state on the west bank and Gaza next to Israel, based on the security council resolutions. Complex issues, like Jerusalem, refugees right of return and settlements were left for negotiations between the 2 parties. with this unilateral decision, Israel has decided the only option for the Palestinians is a limited self rule over large Palestinian cities only, no independent state, no negotiations over Jerusalem, no negotiations over settlements and the peace process that was on life support to begin with is officially DEAD, buried and gone for ever. Israel hoping that the corrupt PA will stay corrupt and keep the Palestinians under a tight police state control, in return the PA will be supported, backed and financed by Arab Gulf money and the life of luxury for it's members will continue. This unilateral move will completely destroy the credibility of the PA amongst Palestinians and strengthen the only argument left on the Palestinian table, military resistance to the Israeli occupation, which means more Israeli and Palestinian blood will be spilled, more trouble in the already troubled region and more extremism on all sides.
6
@Sal
The UN Partition Resolution called for an Arab State & a Jewish State. The Palestinian Authority still refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
The 1967 borders are the 1949 cease fire lines. Both Arabs & Israelis said that these were not to be considered permanent borders. If the PA were actually interested in peace, it would not insist on borders that had already been rejected.
In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (85% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.
2
There will never be a two state solution. We’re well past that point. Israel’s choice in the long term will be between binational democracy or apartheid.
10
There has never been a Palestinian State and there never will be. It was only ever a dream by a tormented and unfortunate people.
@Nima
or
the status quo.
This makes me sick; and I support Israel. While Peace with the Palestinians is unlikely anytime soon, all this does is make sure there is one more reason for the Palestinians to not trust anything Israel says, and pushes back even further, any chance for any peace.
14
In democratic countries where the “demos” elects its leadership, people get the leadership they deserve.
Israelis claim that Israel is a democracy therefore, Bibi reflects their political views.
Bibi is only interested in power and war. How could anybody with such views and policies keep Israelis safe?
7
The statement about annexing the Jordan Valley barely entered the news cycle in Israel. The only news is that Netanyahu is looking over his right shoulder a week before elections, desperate for a couple more Knesset seats.
8
Just get it over with. The peace process was always a farce. The Palestinian leadership has been at various points corrupt, inept, or both, while the Israelis were never serious, forever expanding settlements even as they negotiate a "deal." I don't know what the long term thinking is in Israel, but unless we are all doomed either politically or through climate change, Israel will eventually have to give the Palestinians equal rights or become a pariah state. And if we're doomed well it doesn't matter then does it?
5
It seems to me that our world "leaders" are more interested in WAR than in fixing our day to day problems (climate change, animal extinctions, water pollution, etc.)... I wonder if they already "know" that the aforementioned problems are UNSOLVABLE?!... Or are they suffering of Hubris?. too sad. I take comfort I do not live in the receiving end of the weapons of these "leaders".
From a distance, this reads like Netanyahu has gone all-in with a bet that Donald Trump, or someone like Donald Trump, will remain in power in the USA for quite a long time.
8
Who says Likud will get more than the % of the vote that they got last time? I believe it was only 36%. So Netanyahu may not even continue to be the Prime Minister.
As for "The West Bank" - this was the name given to Judea-Samaria by Jordan who occupied it from 1948-1967. They didn't let Jews into the Old City of Jerusalem. With Israel finally re-taking it in 1967 - ANY & ALL people can go there.
The under 30-age population of Israel does not remember the Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords—it remembers Israel withdrawal from territory, whether it's Lebanon or Gaza, in an effort to jump-start peace, but not getting peace, instead getting 1000s of rockets. This generation came of age in the second intifada. If you went into an audience of people that you would call millennials, and talked about the peace process and the 2-state solution, they would look at you like you were crazy. For them if you are giving up territory, you are going to die. You are not going to get peace. You are going to get terror.
10
@leftrightmiddle Israel withdrew from Lebanon after a 20 year occupation. It was Hezbollah that kicked them out.
Israel didn’t withdraw from Gaza for peace. Quite the contrary. According to Ariel Sharon’s senior advisor, Dov Weissglass, the purpose of the pullout was to kill the peace process, to put the peace process on formaldehyde. In that they were quite successful. They no longer had to take care of Gaza and they were able to move the settlers from illegal settlements in Gaza to illegal settlements in the West Bank.
4
It’s always “terror” when it’s rocks, vests, and unsophisticated rockets.
It’s freedom, defense, and justified when it’s precision-guided and dropped from drones or F-16s.
It’s hypocrisy, is what it is.
I’m just glad Israel stopped pretending. They had a lot of people fooled when they were. Now the thinking-disabled and optimists can see the Israelis for who they are: the sum total of their actions.
4
As long as Israel gives citizenship and the right to vote to the Arabs living in the annexed territory. If not, we need to drop the claim that Israel is a democracy.
20
@Chris
No country on earth would grant citizenship rights to a hostile population committed to its destruction.
7
I once again advise the Arab residents of these territories to visit Chinle Arizona and see how the former residents of the Arizona Territory, the Navajo, have thrived in their assigned / negotiated reservation, Because that’s your future,
8
The author assumes Palestinian leaders seek a two state solution. Why?
Arabs and Israelis are tired of Palestinian leadership walking away from fair deals. Sadly for Palestinians of good will the world has moved on.
12
I despise the settlements and bibi, but the Palestinian’s strategy is ridiculous. What do they do with their money? Dig tunnels. Gaza is Ocean front property. Build some hotels. Get on with your lives.
3
Trump's incompetence encourages Netanyahu's self-serving guidance of Israel further into becoming an international pariah. The seeds being sown now are going to bear some bitter fruit in the not so distant future. With Iran becoming ever stronger militarily, and Russia playing games in Syria, Israel's provocative adventurism is ensuring that a flash point will come. The US may not be willing or able to protect Israel fully when that time comes.
8
Netanyahu must not realize that Trump is temporary and that Israel is taking an unreasonable risk by to hitching it's wagon to such an unpopular and disrespected person. Israel is a nation state because there was a consensus post-WWII that the Jewish people need and deserve a homeland. I worry that Israel's leadership is buying into the "Go it alone" strategy of Bannon, Boris and Trump. Maybe the U.S. and England can turn inward and alienate it's friends and allies---but Israel cannot. I shudder to think of the future of an isolated Israel.
7
Just look at the map. This is a pincer movement to eventually crush the Palestinian population and stop their war on Israel and its very existence. That is the only way there will ever be a resolution of the fighting. The Palestinians will be forced to surrender and either leave or live with Israel. Will they get to vote? I doubt it.
Once the entire region is under Israel, including Gaza, then there is a chance for no war. It will be "Leave or live in peace" for the Palestinians. They have had ample chance for a different outcome and have blown it because their only objective was the complete elimination of Israel. You would think after losing four wars and continuing to lose this one, they'd get the message. "Leave or live in peace".
7
it really disturbs me that we send out tax dollars and support to this regime. I would like to completely extrcate the US from the Middle East.
22
Not good for Israel. Or the Jews. A sad and shameful decision.
19
Dangling apples and a pot of honey in front of an electorate that should know better? Let's hope that they, in fact, do, and can see a corrupt politician for what he is and nothing more.
6
Appease the far-right.
Appease the settlers.
Appease the ultra-orthodox.
Say goodbye to the peace and security of future Israeli generations.
17
@Greg "Say goodby to peace and security?" Does Israel have that now? As long as Hamas and the PA want to annihilate Israel, there is no peace.
10
The so-called two-state solution has always been a myth.
The only viable solution was always a single state, with a cosmopolitan society (which is what the region had prior to WW1). The groups that have prevented that are the 4 major European powers, Ashkenzi Jews, and more recently the USA.
I'm not sure that a single cosmopolitan state is attainable now, the entire world seems to going backwards in that regard. If I was God I'd roll up Israel, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories into the US of the Levant.
7
@Phil Daniels
Being a potential citizen of the USL (United States of the Levant) I"ll be happy to trade places with you. I'll leave you my (good) job, and (beautiful) house fpr whatever you have. I'll prefer the risk of uncontrolled guns in the USA to that of uncontrolled hatred and bloodshed of a civil war.
Well, at least now it's clear why the Israeli government has never wanted to establish legal, permanent borders for their country. They've been moving them day by day since '67, and have no intention to stop.
26
@M. Imberti
Armistice lines aren’t borders. Meanwhile, Israel was willing to accept substantially less territory in exchange for peace with their Arab neighbors...until their Arab neighbors decided to wage endless war against them.
The Arabs got exactly what they signed up for. Tough.
.
7
Thank you for the invitation to share my thoughts.
I'll pass on this. I pretty much have a good idea of what everyone is going to say here, one long endless argument that accomplishes nothing.
One quick glance at a few comments convinces me I am justified in my opinion.
3
Serious questions:
Why now? If Israel can just do this unilaterally, why didn't they do this years ago?
And why not all of the West Bank and not just this portion?
6
Lamenting King David's prayer for grace:
"The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes."
That thou shalt not steal.
9
So says the (White?) likely-Christian person living in what was Indigenous land before the British and French came along.
2
Israel is trying to push the US into a war with Iran while simultaneously trying to destroy any possibility of peace with the Palestinians. America's closest ally? Really?
39
Iran. Someone explain Iran’s reason for causing so much trouble here. They don’t even share a border. They’re Persians. What’s up?
3
Zionism and Palestinian nationalism grew up side by side, geographically and chronologically. Therefore, the two-state solution, based closely on the pre-Six Day War boundaries is the only just and democratic solution to a problem that is not in the best interests of Israel OR the United States. As a proud Jew, I am especially disturbed by the cupidity and foolishness of Israeli policy towards the occupied territories.
17
I've slowly come to the realization that Israel needs to go its own way and that we need to go in a different direction. Sure, we will always be friends and we have much that binds us but we really need to separate ourselves from them. Not doing so will only drag us into their problems and their future war with Iran that they seem obsessed with getting us into. Maybe during the Cold War, when we needed a proxy in the Middle East to counter Soviet influence, our relationship was necessary and mutually beneficial, but not now. The billions we send to them is money we could use here. While their citizens enjoy free government subsidized healthcare we have millions uninsured. Israel can protect itself and more importantly can now pay for itself. We need to rethink our long-term strategic relationship and the billions we give then in aid every year. They are more of a risk with no real benefit to our security. Their close alliance with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states will offer them protection against Iran. They will do just fine without us. Time to move on.
27
@FXQ
America has FTAs [free trade agreements] with twenty countries. Through our exports to those countries, 17,638,294 American jobs were directly supported between 2009 and 2014, according to the Department of Commerce. Of that total, trade with Israel contributed 254,562, the eighth-largest contribution among the 20 trade partners
“exports to Israel generate the highest amount of export dollars per job.”
Another reason high-paying American jobs are tied to trade with Israel is the amount of foreign direct investment Israel sends to America, which is primarily concentrated in the human capital-heavy manufacturing sector. According the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israel’s cumulative investments in the United States through 2013 are more than economic giants like China, India, Russia, Hong Kong, and Brazil, not to mention major oil producer Venezuela, mutual defense treaty partner Taiwan, and all of Africa’s individual countries.
6
Bibi has tied himself to Trump.
Perhaps Bibi can take Trump with him when he loses his election.
They belong in the same jail cell.
One can hope!
30
So, Mr. Netanyahu seeks more space for the chosen people. History seems to be repeating itself except for the fact that in this century it is the Israelites who are the regional superpower, and then some.
22
Bibi and Modi are friends who seem to think alike - West Bank and Kashmir!
12
@SridharC - and Putin in Crimea makes three
3
I think it would be best if they got everyone out of the Gaza Strip before dealing with the west bank! Then focus on the west bank.
The Israelis have their own priorities ......
Indeed, so how about the USA cut the BILLIONS of US Taxpayer Funded Foreign Aid they receive every year and stop underwriting Israeli "priorities?" Let them pay for THEIR OWN priorities themselves. Those billions need to be spend on infrastructure here AT HOME and not continuing to underwrite Israeli malfeasance for over seventy years It's the American underwriter who allows Israelis to set their own priorities in such a way that wouldn't be possible without all that money. Take it away. Force them to make peace. Then reinstate SOME of it.
42
@Moehoward
It takes 2 to make peace. Palestinians don't want peace. They want Israel destroyed.
If we don't give money to Israel, it will not be spent on infrastructure here. The Republicans will give the rich tax relief.
Israel is the top importer of U.S. goods in its region, despite representing a mere 2 percent of the population. There are more companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange from Israel than from any country besides the U.S. and China. And nearly half of all investment into the U.S. from the Middle East comes from Israeli companies. The commercial relationship, while often glossed over given the focus on security matters, is not only sparking new technologies but supports thousands of good jobs in both countries.
9
@Moehoward
Sure, and how about the USA (and much of Western Europe) do THEIR own bidding in the region and stop using Israeli teenagers and young adults (who are conscripted) as proxies in their conflicts with, among others, Iran, Russia (and historically the USSR), North Korea etc.? And how about the US do its own intelligence gathering and analysis. And while they're at it, give back much of the technology of the last several decades.
2
Please unified the Jewish state and expel the non-citizen Arabs to the surrounding nations. Wars is usually the last resort and final solution to messy problems but somehow with Israel, the Israeli just won’t do what it will take to have permanent peace.
Get rid of the Arabs and repair relationship with Arab countries later on. Keeping the terrorists in Israeli is just kicking the can down the road and not pleasing anyone.
5
Great. And why doesn’t every country just get rid of the populations they don’t like.
15
@Allright
Many countries did. Turkey to the Armenian and Greek, Poland to German and Slovak. Ukraine to Poles, Korea to Chinese, Uganda to Indian, Zimbabwe to whites, Indonesia and Vietnam to Chinese.
You don’t hear more about this because it solved the conflict once and for all. No more neighbors no more conflicts.
2
For Yitzhak Rabin, standing on the moral high ground was a vital condition for Israel’s sustainable future. He invited intelligent discussions with advisors, allies and even political adversaries about the impact on current and future generations in nearly every strategic policy he contemplated. Building a prosperous and peaceful Middle-East for Israel and its neighbors was his foresighted and daunting mission. As a result, Israel gained reliable allies even among rational foes, opening opportunities for its citizens.
To get reelected and secure immunity from prosecution in possible corruption charges, Mr. Netanyahu is skilled at creating new and hitchhiking on historic surprise events. He repeatedly capitalized on the citizens’ repressed memory of the ugly events that have shaken their deeply-held beliefs, as Matti Friedman wrote in yesterday’s Times opinion piece.
Promising to annex further territory is the perfect scenario for the P.M. to enlist soft voters, especially among the youth; although the intention of those with rigid partisan loyalties are unlikely to change.
But in this election race plagued by his own son’s outrageous and gratuitous attacks on Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy, Mr. Netanyahu faces a more esteemed and threatening adversary, who is gaining sustainable support by engaging in intelligent discussions with all sides of public opinion, and gradually occupying the high moral ground, as did Rabin, years earlier.
11
Best comment yet.
1
Those people fighting over their 'God given' homelands is going to bring about the end of humanity.
24
Native American populations in this country understand better than anybody the significance of this move. The United States needs, in order to regain their moral compass, to cut Israel loose. With friends like Israel, who needs enemies?
41
Um, the Native Americans, perhaps more than other Americans do and ought understand what it means to have been repeatedly and forcibly deported from one's homeland, moved or forced out of one area and then another for centuries, to have the graves of the ancestors desiccated and used as paving stones or simply erased by those who moved into and onto their ancestral homeland, have their language stripped from them, have their children stolen from them to fight the oppressors' wars, have their families face the choice between converting to Christianity or be further persecuted or perish, yearn for centuries to return and to have the freedom of self-determination in one's ancestral land where their people's elders' remains became part of the soil and dust and air and water itself in that land and all that grows from it. They know what it is to have one's multi-millennial home and sacred spaces stolen and built upon and desiccated by foreign cultures and religions. Babylonians (proto Iraqis) and then Romans' (proto-Europeans) and then Muslim Arabs and then Christian Europeans
depleted the land of its resources (for example, forests full of trees), deported or murdered or oppressed the Jewish inhabitants, and so forth.
There are problems with how BOTH Palestinians
and the current Israeli government have behaved, but the Indigenous Peoples of America have reason to understand and have sympathy for BOTH peoples.
3
The worst enemy of the average Palestinian is their own government. Gaza and West Bank are adversaries. They suppress their own people by maintaining refugee camps for 60’years.
22
Israel plays some role too. There are plenty of blockades and land grabs to make this whole thing pretty hopeless. No compromise or peace is coming to anyone anytime soon.
14
@JRoebuck
Why wasn't there peace before any blockade or land grab?
Palestinians were coming into Israel to murder Israelis. That's why Israel built the fence. It's border control to stop Palestinians from getting weapons to murder Jews.
In the past 30 years, Israel has annexed ZERO territory. Israel signed peace treaties with both Jordan & Egypt even though that meant giving up large areas of Biblical Israel. This shows that Israel is more interested in peace than in land.
4
Putin grabs Crimea. Modi grabs Kashmir. Netanyahu grabs Palestine...
Grabbers grab. Isn't this the history of the human race? It is hypocritical to blame N. Korea for having developed nuclear weapons or Iran for trying. I think they're merely trying to make it difficult for the grabbers of the world.
If the Neocons really thought Saddam had nuclear weapons, would they have attacked Iraq?
29
You have a point. In addition, no “policy expert” has uttered Hans Blix was right, and the plan to prevent Iraq from developing WMD worked. The prevention in that instance worked and for far less than war.
2
Nah, N Korea, Iran, and even Syria before the fall we’re all targeted as axis of evil countries. That’s when the nuclear ambitions of all three amped up as mutually assured destruction is the only way to ensure you’re not annihilated. Our capturing / killing Saddam and Kadaffi crystallized that the threat was real. It is our irrational, hellbent behavior that caused their wholly rational response. Clearly nation states were not our enemy then, but terrorists groups seeking to align with them. We have other tools in the diplomatic toolbox to use when rouge states try to hold us hostage, or at least we did. Instead, we buy them in the crosshairs. We are adrift with our big guns and bigger personalities unwilling to seek rational solutions. This is the case Israel as well; makes sense we’re such warm friends. Vote democrat or any one but Trump and we have a chance. The toughness we need to marshal for our kids future has nothing to do with the posturing of fear, hate, theft, or bullying.
2
@JB
Modi did not grab Kashmir. It has been a part of India since the country was formed. Article 370 has been a point of contention since that time. Netanyahu is annexing occupied territory. You can't compare the two.
1
What an abuse of power by Netanyahu...and further humiliation of Palestinians' hope to have a sovereign home of their own...similar to the one Israelis enjoy at present. No reciprocity means no democratic solutions via dialogue and, likely, further violence. Why is it that we humans keep fighting with each other, to appropriate our neighbor's land and treasure, just because we can?
19
It's biblical. With the help of all the people in free democracies in the world who want to see that Palestinians have a right to self governance "they will rise up and smote their oppressors".
6
I grew up next to Brandies, a second generation Irish catholic girl in Waltham.The Rose Art Museum my sanctuary.I have always supported Israel. I just wonder what would Judge Louis Brandeis think of this.I think he would be heart sick. When can we all learn to be fair? My heart aches for Israel, and aches for the Palestinians .I know and hope Israel will do the right thing, just as we will do here in 2020.
9
Palestinians, Native Americans, Aborigini, Kashmiris, Armenians, Kurds, Rohingya, Yemenis, etc. These are all people the world has decided to leave behind for the sake of other interests besides human rights e.g. tribalism, money, and power.
Some times the dark forces unite like they have under Xi, Putin, Trump, Crown Prince MBS, Netanyahu, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, and Orban where the little people can't do anything but observe and wring their hands. Only economic and military consequences will make the Far-right Israelis change their minds, however that will not be happening under the Trump admin.
There should be a Jewish Homeland, a Palestinian Homeland, and Jersusalem shared between the two as a neutral city.
20
@John W
The World has not decided to leave the Palestinians behind. The World gives each Palestinian more money than any other group.
"There should be a Jewish Homeland, a Palestinian Homeland, and Jerusalem shared between the two as a neutral city." That's what the UN said, but the Arabs didn't want the Jews to have any state at all.
In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (85% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.
4
Let's face it, annexation of the Jordan Valley makes a lot of sense from a defensive, security point of view. It creates a logical, defensible eastern border, preventing any invasion invited or tolerated by any Palestinian authority. Oh yeah, the rest of the world cares nothing for Israel's safety. No current or future Palestinian leader would find this acceptable? What else is new.
12
@mdieri - Sure. Enclosing the Palestinians in the West Bank just means they enclose people who will rightly resent the grab.
At the same time, they'll suddenly present themselves as next-door neighbor to Jordan, a friendly enough kingdom, but which currently is stuffed full of both refugee (hundreds of thousands still in refugee camps) and naturalized citizen Palestinians, as well as nearly a million and a half refugees of the Syrian war.
This is a foolish gambit, it doesn't improve anybody's well-being and I hope that Bibi loses the election and then faces his corruption trial.
6
@b fagan Jordan has held the peace for decades. As for the argument of "let's not make things worse", that has held up any progress since there is nothing that can make it better, but the Palestinians can always make things worse.
1
A depressing headline (to put it mildly), but so many uplifting, thoughtful comments. Please also write your congresspeople AND the U.N.! Thank you.
8
The folly of politics and man... when the real threat of climate change will affect EVERYONE (it's all one planet we theoretically are sharing) the people with power seem to be doubling down along sectarian, religious and economic divisions. Last gasp of the nation state and the beginning of a new global unity... one can hope but lots like things will get bloody and unpleasant before we evolve...
5
Nationalism leads to War.
Internationalism leads to Peace.
14
Jordan...the de facto Arab Palestinian state...occupies approximately 80% of the territory that was historic Palestine.
So let’s not pretend that the ‘two-state solution’ doesn’t already exist.
11
I guess the good news is that the farce that is the two-state solution will finally end and we get on with whatever comes next.
4
As usual, the US allows Israel lives under a different set of rules. Annexation of territories "won" in war is just wrong, full stop.
22
Israel is a country recreated by the British and Americans because they did not want European Jews in Europe anymore.
There was and is no justification for taking away Palestinian lands to give to second class Europeans.
If indeed there is justification because Jews were originally from the Middle East, then American Indians have far greater claim to over half of the US and other N American lands. I simply don't see European settlers here giving up land - though we did force Palestinians to do exactly that.
The best workable solution is for Israel to give back all land grabbed in 1967 and compensate the Palestinians for land they took after WW2.
25
Your first sentence is untrue and shows such a lack of both knowledge of history and insight into that history and contemporaneous and contemporary geopolitics that the rest of what you have to say has little credibility.
Try learning and listening, with a more open mind, and a more open heart, and you may find that it's a lot more nuanced than you think. I did.
7
Many Palestinian people WERE compensated, as the property was purchased, and for a fair price.
My Jewish friend's long-time family home in Jerusalem's Old City, however, was stolen from under them by non-Jewish Arab people when Jordan and it's Arab Legion laid violent siege against Jewish residents of Jerusalem in 1948 and proceeded to forcibly divide the holy city with barbed wire, land mines, artillery and armed soldiers. Unwilling to allow Jewish people into their part of the city even through the use of checkpoints, the Muslim (and Christian? and Marxist?) Arabs refused to allow Jews to visit their single most holy place, the Western Wall and Temple Mount (equivalent, at least, to Mecca and the Kaba for Muslims), which was on the Jordanian side of their barricade.
7
Netanyahu is not a leader for peace, but rather sharp edged politician playing with people's lives. I hope Israel is better than that because Netanyahu is only galvanizing its enemies with his words. Peace is the only answer that makes sense.
9
The rest of the world should put Israel on notice that aid, and diplomatic and trade relations rest on a return to the 1967 borders recognized by the UN. There is no reason to enable and encourage this behaviour. BDS.
28
@expat
There’s no such thing as “1967 borders”...so Israel will
not be ‘returning’ to them.
(FYI...armistice lines aren’t ‘borders’ and were never intended as such.)
11
@Susanna Israel's borders were voluntarily designated by its leadership on announcing independence and seeking international recognition. Those borders are described in detail in UN Res. 181 Part II.
They did not and do not include Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, the Syrian Golan Heights or the Lebanese Sheeba Farms, all territories Israel illegally controls at the point of a gun, contrary to international law.
3
@Susanna - Ribbentrop and Molotov said much the same thing when they carved up Eastern Europe in August 1939.
4
The two-state solution has always been conditioned on Israeli security. This has meant that the new independent country, Palestine, would be required to eschew any military forces other than internal police, and also would be required to relinquish control of its external borders to Israel. So, in effect, what the formal annexation of the Jordan River valley (western side of the river) will accomplish is close to the same thing, and also eliminates the need to control any direct border between a new Palestinian state and Jordan. To be continued.....
7
@C.L.S. - somehow it doesn't seem durable to tell people of another country that they're "independent" yet their entire border is controlled by a neighbor's military.
Try again.
4
It is interesting that the land that Israel wants to annex is the land that was referred to by the ancient Greeks that was situated between the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea called Palestine. It was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire until 1517, and remained under the rule of the Turks until World War One. Towards the end of the war, the Turks were defeated by the British. Britain governed this area under a League of Nations Mandate between 1920 and 1948,and was promised to the Palestinians by the British for helping defeat the Turks. Sadly, America didn't have allowances for all the Jews to come to America after World War Two, otherwise, I doubt we would even be talking about this. The same area had been promised to the Jews for a homeland by the Balfour Declaration, a letter written to the Rothschilds(one of the most influential families at the time) by Arthur Balfour. It is a story of history, and sadly, terrorism, war, death, and the taking of land by force for over 7 decades, some of the Palestinian land was won in the 6 day war by Israel in 1967. The song by Bob Dylan, made famous, and sang by Joan Baez, is, "With God on Our Side." However, which God would more likely be the question?
13
Whatever are you talking about?
Both Jews and Muslims worship the same God.
There is no such thing as the “Jewish God” and the “Muslim God”.
5
As Netanyahu moves further and further right, there is less and less difference between him and the regime that tried to destroy the entirety of his people.
28
Thanks Jared. Another stable genius
19
Now there's an election slogan:
"Vote for me and I'll give you other peoples' property".
Who could find fault with that?
27
@WJG
Annexation doesn't affect private property.
2
@m1945 It does if the government doing the annexation refuses to recognize the legitimacy of property ownership by the current residents. And we've already seen that is the case in the building of settlements on West Bank land.
As an elementary school child fascinated by maps, I could not understand why territory ceded by Jordan and occupied by Israel was not annexed promptly after 1967.
We saw the United States acquire the American Southwest after the Mexican war. The Mexican citizens living there were offered American citizenship if they wished. Their ownership of land was honored (mostly). Why can’t Israel do the same thing? And if for security reasons, some must be displaced from their lands, then compensate them fairly. What am I missing here?
8
Israel would never allow Palestinians in an annexed territory to become Israeli citizens. It would mean they would have to provide them with rights, treat them humanely and allow them to vote.
25
well, I guess the invasion and annexation of Crimea by Russia is ok too then....?
11
@Max Israel didn't and doesn't want to become a Muslim-Arab majority country. They would be within one generation if they annexed all of Palestine. There are millions of Palestinians!
8
Mired in corruption scandals, ineffective governance and lacking an overarching vision for Israel's future, Netanyahu is doubling down on his populist stance complete with phony bravado and symbolic but largely empty promises.
10
Reading the various comments here, particularly those critical of Israel and the lack of peace progress, I am struck by the fact that all ignore the fact that the charters of the PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah each call for the annihilation of Israel. That seems of no importance to these sanctimonious critics . However, only an irrational person can afford to ignore that fact ,in my view, since peace is not a one way street .
18
@herbert deutsch
It's hard to take you seriously when you dont know that the PLO has accepted Israel for more than 20 years.
16
@herbert deutsch - Gee Herb, Come up to speed. The PLO recognized Israel's "right to exist in peace and security" in 1993, and at the same time voided the objectionable clauses of its charter. You can read those documents, as I did, on the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
In any event, the charter is defunct, replaced in 1994 by a Palestinian Constitution, something Israel still doesn't have. And Hamas has said (2017) that it would accept a negotiated peace along the 1967 borders.
Hezbollah is in Lebanon, not part of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Your totally inaccurate account of the situation is part of the problem. "Irrationality" stands on an ignorance of facts and history that so many of Israel's supporters display.
The accompanying article, in which the U.S. Ambassador flashes a green light on this travesty, is just simply shameful.
13
The Romans and the Persians lived in this land years ago, why don’t they get a claim?
13
@penney albany
The Romans are long gone, and the Persians, they were pretty much erased by the Islamic and then Mongol invasions. Iran today never misses a chance to bring up the "Persian" thing. But their glory days are centuries ago.
3
@Moehoward
The Romans are still here. The Italians are the Romans. Same thing with the Persians.
If Italians arent Romans and Iranians arent Persians then modern day Jews are definitely not Hebrews or Judeans and therefore have to right to the land.
6
Netanyahu knows this will fly with a Democrat in the White House in 2020. This aside, If Netanyahu's plan to annex the occupied West Bank is carried out, it will put Israel in the same imperial position as Russia and Putin's annexation of Crimea, If the US and Europe permit Israel to do this, it will erase any basis for criticism of Putin's grab! Such brazen moves only open the door to dangerous backlashes, and more unbridled attempts by other countries to do the same. Who needs the United Nations when the new politic is unbridled nationalism.
16
@Telly55 -- Biden would accept this. So would a few others. This illustrates that the hawks are hawks first.
When the Camp David accord took place, Syria had a real chance to retrieve the Golan Heights and the Palestinians had a real chance of establishing their homeland in the West Bank. But with the idiotic arrogance of their leaders, that still persists four decades later, dreaming they will eventually have the upper hand, they are losing it all. I am surprised Netenyahu is leaving an enclave surrounded by Israel, but it too will be annexed in another decade or two.
8
Well, the Palestinians were never high on the Arab world's list of priorities except as a way to keep scratching at Israel and deflect attention from their own human rights abuses.
The Palestinians could have had their large chunk of land anytime from 1948. Now they might come to realize the sad folly of their intransigence. If that were not so, they would not have kept those who chose to leave Israel in camps.
Well, take Gaza. Given back by Israel with businesses intact, and look what the Palestinians have done with it, along with billions in foreign aid.
Spent on concrete for terrorist tunnels instead of schools and hospitals.
In Israel, Arabs go to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus for treatment.
13
I would like to hear what the Democrats running for president have to say about this proposed annexation. Such a proposal should be off the table and not included in any option for moving forward. For Netanyahu to even make this campaign promise shows how far Israel has drifted to the right. It is bordering on apartheid territory. And whatever bonds are remaining between American Jews and Israeli Jews it would seem certain that Netanyahu has now made those bonds even more fragile.
10
Modern day Israel's "historical" connection to this territory is based on folklore consisting of events from thousands of years ago involving people who may or may not have ever existed. However, in 2019, the displaced and stateless Palestinians who live under an illegal military occupation, actually do exist.
23
Stop the liberal outrage. Nothing will happen after this annexation. If Israel follows my suggestion and expelled all non-citizen Arabs nothing will happen either. Liberals have short memory and love to be outraged by any slight or perceived slight.
The US would still support Israel. Russia and China will condemn as requested by their Muslim allies but neither will care enough to do more than that. EU will pass resolution to condemn and maybe even a sanction or two until they realize they need Israeli technology. Saudi and Egypt would still be friendly while Iran and Syria would still be enemy.
Nothing changed.
8
...So long as Palestinians are given full rights of full citizenship and their property protected. It seems the Israelis are pushing for a one state solution unless they intend to deny the Palestinians human rights for all eternity.
10
There are 35 million Kurds in the Middle East and they don’t have a single pebble worth of deeded land.
Some peoples can’t catch a break
10
The annexation of territory by any power is an invitation to civil war. Not only will this violate the UN Resolution that created the State of Israel but reaffirm the beliefs of Israel's neighbors that Israel is a danger to them all. Israel shouldn't count on the support of the US during the upcoming cataclysm. Is Bibi worth all the lives that will be lost? Why risk the inevitable destruction of Israel for the sake of winning an election and why increase anti-Semitism throughout the world?
12
Thank you, Mr. Netanyahu.
Now we can stop pretending that Israel is interested in a peaceful solution, that Israel is an ally.
Now time to support BDS--Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions--for anyone with an ounce of integrity.
23
I believe this is the Trump peace plan.
6
The Arab countries don't care one bit for the Palestinians and wouldn't lift a finger for them.
Do you really believe Likud would make this move without the tacit approval of SA?
Furthermore, the Palestinian leadership doesn't care either. They make their money fighting the glorious, endless war. Not through peace.
Of course the people suffer, as always. Palestinians are oppressed and innocent Israelis are murdered.
10
Racism is the biggest issue keeping America from reaching its full potential and promise of freedom and democracy/democracy and freedom of promise and potential full its reaching from Israel keeping issue biggest the is territories occupied of maintenance and seizure the.
The Israeli offer at Camp David 20 years ago was the best chance for a Palestinian state. And the Palestinians walked away. Annexation of Area C is the Israeli is the next logical step.
13
I am reminded of the American annexation of
territories occupied by Indians.
2
What a charade. By any practical definition, Israel has already annexed the West Bank. All of the Palestinian territories, including Gaza, are under effective Israeli control. Maybe it's time for Israel to just acknowledge that and make everyone equal citizens under the law. Oh, I forgot---that makes me an anti-semite.
9
Go for it Bibi. Protect your homeland at all costs, against the evil intentions of your foreign "neighbors". Your job is to do what is best in the interests of Israel, and that includes providing a buffer zone in the event of Islamic invasion. Good job.
8
The Palestinians should have come to an agreement when they were offered one, but Arafat said No, and started a new war of terror against Israeli civilians. That was not forgotten.
23
If history repeats, Mr. Natanyahu will win the election and create a cabinet that is unable to reach any consensus about Israeli annexation of areas in the West Bank. The cabinet will ultimately dissolve and another round of elections will be held. More appeals to right wing factions will be made.
3
However disappointing, Jared Kushner is right! Palestinians are not ready for statehood. The two state solution has been nothing but a deception. So the sooner everyone accepts the reality the better. I have no doubt that it had always been Israel’s intention to annex the entire Palestinian land, and without a doubt it is Palestine intention to obtain its statehood so it can fight for its lost land.
5
Sounds wonderful as long as all residents are given full and equal democratic rights in the new state.
11
Because of this possible move by Netanyahu, enshrined in Trumpism and aided and abetted by Trump himself, the world’s powers will feel no remorse annexing and carving up large parts the United States when that day comes, and much of the world’s people will rejoice.
3
I look forward to that. We should be divided into 3 or 4 countries.
2
Netanyahu's annexation plan is outright demonic, not only because it usurps land in the hands of the Palestinians for millennia, but because it would deny direct access to waters of the Jordan river by the remaining population of the West Bank. In view of the fact that the aquifer underlying much of the West Bank is receding as well, the annexation would be a torturous death knell for the West Bank inhabitants.
11
It says something about the general coverage of Israeli politics when The NY Times takes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s election rhetoric far more seriously than the Israelis themselves.
It would be enlightening to many people if Palestinian politics were covered with such vigor. Then, perhaps, everyone would have a clearer understanding of the decisions they have made that prevents any meaningful advances toward peace. Bear in mind that Abbas rejected every suggestion made by President Obama - the most pro-Palestinian US President since Jimmy Carter - and humiliated Secretary Kerry by denouncing his plan sight unseen.
The Arab world is preparing itself to resist Iran’s reach for regional hegemony at their expense and recognize the value of having Israel’s support. Entity against Jews is no longer a sufficient glue when the Sunni are faced with the existential possibility of losing their power to the heretical Shi’ites.
In this new reality, created inadvertently by President Obama’s misguided outreach to Iran, Palestinian obstructionism is no longer in the Sunni Arabs best interests and the fact that Hamas has long since become an Iranian proxy does not help matters either.
Simply put, dealing with the world as it is is costing the anti-Zionist Club many of its previously staunchest members and its Western apologists find themselves advocating what passes for the Palestinian cause with far greater intensity than the Arabs themselves.
12
@Charlie in NY
Is there such a thing as "Palestinian Politics?" Because Hamas and Fatah et al are run like mini-mafias, with their racketeering and extortion wing, their perpetual law enforcement wing, their super secret highly-armed terrorist wing. They're not exactly acting like statesmen or following the protocol of a diplomatic corps.
Where's the Gaza "Parliament?" Where's the West Bank Senate? Where are the different Palestinian political factions? I'd like to hear from these people. They can't politically be all the same. There's got to be Palestinian conservatives and liberals but right now they're all forced by FEAR and the powers that be to fall in line behind the face of ONE person, and one ideology and that's not "politics." That is tyranny.
6
But will Netanyahu give Palestinians living in these areas full rights, privileges and dignity as full citizens?
9
OK, now it's officially time for the world to support the BDS movement. I never did until now, because I thought Israel could return to embracing fairness and equality once more. Now I have real doubts about that.
17
@Freonpsandoz
And the result will be ... what? Some pain for Jews? What's that going to do besides make them more defensive? And what's the result going to be of encouraging the Palestinians in their war to eliminate Israel? More Palestinian suffering cause with or without US help Israel is the dominant military power in the region and will fight for survival and protect it's citizens from terrorism.
If you actually wanted to help the Palestinians you'd encourage them to give up their war before things get worse.
4
From the beginning the Zionists have only been interested in land and not the self determination of the indigenous Arab peoples. It started with “plan dalet” and the removal of 700,000 Palestinians from their villages to make way for a Jewish home land. A home land that most Jewish refugees had no interest in after the pogroms in Russia or ww2 . for their home of interest was the United States. These current proposals will not help bring a lasting resolution to today’s conflict.
9
@Viincent
Arabs are indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula. Anything beyond that is conquered stolen plunder.
7
Like Trump, Bono only cares about winning the next elections by fostering divisiveness and fear. Clearly this is a bad idea for Israel.
1
The dark heart of Netanyahu has now been revealed. In fact, he never wanted peace... only a peace process, all the while building more and more illegal outposts in the West Bank. It has all been a charade. And now, with little resistance, he wants to end that charade and take the prize, scuttling all hopes for peace and a Palestinian homeland. And if Trump wins a second term, he will do it. The UN has voted many times to excoriate Israel for its brutal Occupation, and apartheid treatment regarding Palestinians in and out of Israel. But with the help of the US, the UN has become toothless in this regard, with no agency. Far from a peacemaker, Trump has truly emboldened dictators around the world. Hopes for peace everywhere are being dashed daily, both at home, and around the world.
9
This policy is nothing but Trump speaking through Netanyahu.
Trump prefers slash and burn methods disregarding all human consequences.
It’s time Netanyahu stopped being the Trumpian puppet.
1
We have two world leaders setting fires all over the world to keep from going to prison.
Priceless....
5
Netanyahu takes an advantage of an ignorant and nihilistic President who brushes aside long-standing American policy on Israel, just as did Paul Ryan, who got Trump to sign an unpopular tax cut bill.
15
We should encourage Netanyahu to do his worst; it will hasten the day when these “Israelis” are returned to the nations they came from.
11
Wow, I'm no supporter of Netanyahu, but your comment, with Israelis in quotes, reeks of ignorance. How much have you read of the history of this region?
5
Are you suggesting that the Israelis aren’t really Israeli? Kind of like Americans aren’t really Americans? Happy to help you book your ticket “home” sir.
6
Agree. According to the Bible the Israelis came from Israel. God gave it to them. The Roman Empire drove them out. The Roman Empire is no more and the Israelis are back home.
7
This is sickening. Isn't this an international crime? What's supposed to happen to the Palestinians who already live there - I suppose they won't get the right to vote in Israeli elections or anything like that.
24
What am I missing?
The Palestinians have vowed to destroy Israel, terrorized Israel with their own children as suicide bombers for decades, and continually launch rockets into Israel, but Israel is the bad guy?
Don't tell me the Palestinians are reacting to Israel. They've been doing it since Day 1.
What if Mexico did that to the US?
38
People get mad when you run them off their land.
9
Interesting selection of Mexico in lieu of Canada. Full Trump bias is clearly in gear.
7
Well, you’re missing 2000 years of history including the Sykes-Picot agreement, the Balfour doctrine, the UN agreement which recognized the State of Israel and 71 years of international recognition that Israel is not entitled to take lands on the West Bank.
Your analogy is flawed. The better analogy would be the US taking land from Mexico, which it did in the Mexican-American War. An even better analogy would be the US taking lands today to retaliate against the government of Mexico for organized gangs of drug traffickers from Mexico and Latin America who supply US demand for illicit drugs and make the region a haven for corrupt military officials and police causing hundreds of thousands to flee for their own safety.
Israel has a right to exist, but it has no right to seize any more Palestinian land. This action, like Sharon’s ascension of the Temple Mount, appears to be intended to provoke further conflict to further unjust and illegal policies by Israel’s government.
11
Crime against humanity
21
Mr. Netanyahu, you have already annexed Washingtong D.C., and New York City, so the Jordan Valley should not be a problem for you. Just remember the Curse of the Dead Sea.
13
Will the people living there become Israeli citizens?
15
@Mark Poirier
No. They will be the Rohingya of the Middle East.
10
Election Show and Tell. Very Trumpian! BTW, 40 of the Jews now living in the West Bank settlements are New Yorkers.
5
@John Kominitsky. 40%. With dual citizenship, while the other non Jewish residents have no voting rights
7
Trump will wait to see how wealthy Jewish campaign donors react. If they like Bibi's plan, so will Donald. If they express serious reservations, so will Donald.
In the meantime, maybe Moscow Mitch can invite Bibi to address Congress one last time before next Tuesday.
13
Does Netanyahu's stress on the "unique opportunity" mean the he doesn't think Trump will be re-eledted?
8
Annexing Judea and Samaria into Israel. What a concept. The faster, the better. Those who want a two state solution to Palestine, one arab and one Jewish already succeeded with the creation of Jordan in 1922. Jordan is 80% of Palestine. Israel is the remaining 20%. Oh, the Jew haters want to take more land from Israel. Go figure.
22
@nims. That old saw? And will the Arabs living there in Judea and Samaria get to vote like those living within the 1948 borders? If not, why not?
7
Can I run you off the land you live on and pretend you are the problem?
6
Bibi has cynically made a connection with the craziest of the religious right! And this when the country was not founded in order to favor religion.
As a totally secular Jew, I can not approve of this and, considering their precarious geographical location, and Donald Trump's moving of Israel's capitol to Jerusalem, (Donald can't help being an habitual butt-in-ski no matter the outcome or even the country!)
Jewish State or not, foolish is foolish.
6
Didn’t they just pass a law against boycotting Israel?
5
Israel would have been so much better off if its Palestinian neighbors could have created a functioning, peaceful state alongside the Jewish homeland. Instead the past 71 years of nascent Palestinian sovereignty have been completely defined by a corrupt leadership selling an idiotic and racist dream of destroying Israel and the Jews residing there. Perhaps this is the best solution possible but it's certainly not a good solution for Israel.
17
@Richard Katz,
Palestinians have a functional state. It is called Jordan.
11
The Palestinian response was as expected, Saab Erakat declared, in apocalyptic terms, that this would end any chance of peace. Mr. Erekat, probably a successor to Abbas (in year 15 of his 4 year term) is a Bedouin with Jordanian citizenship whose family hails from Saudi Arabia, is a perfect candidate for Palestinian leadership. He also says that about pretty much anything the Israeli do. The other response was, of course, violence. Rockets from Gaza. The Palestinian response to anything from Israel, including a peace proposal, is violence.
Maybe the Palestinians should try something different like offering to make peace. Do you think that maybe they are thinking that maybe they shouldn't have turned down peace proposals in 2000, 2008 and 2014? Probably not, introspection isn't their strong point.
22
Are you being serious? Netanyahu basically just said that Israel will be illegally annexing a huge portion of Palestinian land. All fault here lies with Netanyahu, who is purposefully making a peace agreement impossible. He is making life more dangerous every year for year Jew around the world. Israel is the perfect example of where moderates and centrists are essential and need to take power and the majority.
11
Here is the best, most honest, most reasonable article I have read recently about the prospects for peace between Israel and its neighbors -- and surprise, surprise -- it was written nearly 20 years ago by Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a book.
Read it carefully Times Editorial writers, Tom Friedman and Netanyahu-haters, you will learn things and -- depending on your level of honesty -- possibly be convinced.
https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/290029/bibis-peace-plan?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=57978c14f8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_08_26_01_46&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-57978c14f8-207789569
8
It seems that President Carter’s angst about Israel turning into an apartheid state had sound basis. Progressive Jews worldwide should condemn this occupation.
23
Israel requires strategic depth to thwart relentless enemies who can cite God’s word in their holy book to justify their endless hostility to Jews.
Exactly how does Israel make peace with enemies like that?
13
Israel cites God as well.
6
@EGD
Israel is the people citing God in their holy book. Hostility is to theft no matter who does it, in this case Israel has stolen land, taken away the right of citizenship, and expelled thousands. Settlers will live near Palestinians with two different sets of rights. The definition of apartheid.
5
Water grab.
14
Are you surprised?
2
Don’t dare criticize this move or you’d be branded as “antisemitic” by the usual Zionist suspects.
18
The sting of that label has worn out. Especially with actions like these.
It is time for a one state solution, and the name of the state would be best named Palestine.
The postmodern misconception of reforming the lands of Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh should be seen as folly, the mission only bludgeons the Jewish people.
4
Israel like the USA needs an inspiring leader on the Left. Bibi/Trump are alleged crooked politicians with master media manipulation skills. Where are the protest marchers?
6
Is it anti-Semitic to disagree with this?
16
What is that term for self destructive behavior?
Israel is its own worst enemy.
It is clear to me that in my lifetime it will cease to exist.
You simply cannot be this evil and maintain the fiction that you are a Western democracy. Israel is democratic in the same way South Africa was democratic during apartheid and Black people were free in the US before the Civil Rights Act.
21
If they put my people in the ovens,
I’d be paranoid too.
15
Is it still "antisemitism" to oppose this?
12
How desperate, how despicable, how dishonest! Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed his final solution to the "two-state solution"--a no-state solution to energize the hard right Zionist land grab that that would make Palestinians stateless as second-class citizens in Israel. We've seen this before in South Africa; it was called apartheid and was only ended through a BDS-like movement. As a Jewish-American and a member of a holocaust family, I'm horrified to see any Israeli propose a "lebensraum" policy that the Nazis used to expropriate the property from all my grandmother's huge extended family. We've vowed "Never Again" then, and I say Never Again now. A Jewish autocrat is no better than a non-Jewish one. It's the same dark human traits of cruelty and hate that absolutely should be anathema to any Jew, especially those in Israel.
16
An illegal move
Please be clear
Btw how come you don’t cover Israel the same way you cover Russia’s move in Crimea
I wonder
23
on the bloody gaza borderline,
the IDF snipers shoot the sons of palestine.
the victims of genocidal persecution
are now the perpertrators ;
this intifada insurrection has no resolution; except for der fuhrer's FINAL SOLUTION!
1
Putin
Kim
Xi
MBS
Netanyahu
Trump besties.
16
Judea and Samaria has always been Israel but until now there was no leadership. Now there is leadership. Thank you Bibi! For centuries anti-semites stole our homeland, not anymore. There never was anything called a palestinian, this was just a ruse concocted by the arabs to take back Jewish land. Thank you Bibi for standing up for the Jewish people and being a real leader. Let the un and the arabs whine about this with their liberal jewish proxies. Bibi is the best prime minister in the history of Israel.
72
@Jim Tankersly: If there's no such thing as a Palestinian, then there's no such thing as a Kurd, because they've never had a state either.
77
@Jim Tankersly Tribalism at it's finest. After all, the only people that have a legitimate historic claim to this area are your people. I hope your post is satire, but sadly, it doesn't look that way.
94
@Jim Tankersly Wasn’t Judea and Samaria originally taken from the Canaanites by the Hebrews? Or was that just fairytales like the rest of the holy books? Selectively deciding when history begins does not confer ownership of land. If that were the case, anyone could claim the right to land by literally standing on it and saying that they’ve always been there.
157
Land grab, pure and simple.
The next time the “pro-Israel” crowd claims that Israel is the party interested in peace and the Palestinians are the ones rejecting it, we can point to this event and expose the claim for the lie that it is.
27
Unfortunately, as long as Netanyahu is in office, and as long as leaders with his mind set set Israel policy, that country will never achieve peace on their borders. Netanyahu knows full well that there is no border security issue with Jordan. It's probably Israel's most secure border.
6
As a veteran. I am a supporter of Israel but not of Netanyahu; just as I am a supporter of my country but certainly not of Trump. These two supposed "leaders" are cut from the same narcissistic cloth. Both are pushing the U.S. to risk the lives of our troops and treasure to go to war with Iran. Given the billions of taxpayer dollars/weapons we give to Isreal every year, what say we let Isreal take the lead and put their own military forces at risk. We have certainly done more than our share. Besides we can use the billions of our taxpayer dollars at home to improve our healthcare, infrastructure, hurricane relief, etc., etc..... Good luck Mr. Netanyahu.
243
@logic
Israel has always fought its own battles.
How many American soldiers did we send to help Israel in the 1948 war?
ZERO!
How many American soldiers did we send to help Israel in the 1956 war?
ZERO!
How many American soldiers did we send to help Israel in the 1967 war?
ZERO!
How many American soldiers did we send to help Israel in the 1973 war?
ZERO!
...
We're the richest country ever. It's not because of money that we don't have universal health care. Republicans will not use money for healthcare. They will give tax breaks to the rich.
20
@logic
Can't say I disagree with your assessment of Netanyahu, but there's a bit of a logical disconnect here. You can't be a supporter of Israel and be in favor of throwing Israel under the bus unless your laboring under a propaganda fueled misconception. The Palestinians are at war with Israel. They aren't innocent oppressed people. The majority of them are actively supporting the killing of Jews and elimination of Israel. You may be happy to believe that the Palestinians deserve their fight and leave it at that, but that doesn't help end the conflict, and it certainly doesn't help the Palestinians. They have no chance. The only thing that will help them at this point is complete surrender and learning to live with Israel. Don't like that? Fine. The Palestinians will suffer and Israel will go on with, or without, anyone's support.
10
@m1945 Wow sounds like Israel is hot stuff! Good for them, let them continue to fight their own battles without American money!
PS, no more American money for Egypt either. Charity begins at home and these countries all want to fight their own insane theocratic battles.
PPS, let's stay out of the idiotic Shi'ite vs Sunni holy war led by Iran and Saudi Arabia. With all the cash we'll be saving, maybe we can afford universal health care after all.
36
Palestinians have rejected every opportunity to make peace with Israel. They never saw a 2 state solution as an end to the conflict but only as a stepping stone to total domination of Israel. They are lucky at this point to get whatever Israel will offer.
20
The land that Israel would annex in the Jordan Valley was never the Palestinian's.
It was ruled by Jordan, who won it in a war and then lost it in another war. In the 80's Jordan determined to cede their claims to it to the PLO so they wouldn't demand a Palestinian state in Jordan proper.
Before Jordan, it was administered by the British and the French, who won it in a war against the Ottomans.
And on and on. That's the extent of the Palestinian claims to the Jordan Valley.
18
@Mmm
Hmm, you make the error of judging the rights of ownership to the lands abutting the Jordan river and valley on post-WWII events. Certainly, if you claim the present Palestinians have no rights to claim that territory, how can you claim the Israelis have, who have not lived there prior to recent decades of occupation since nearly 2 millenniums. The region was known as part of Palestine since that term developed under the Ottomans in the first part of the 19th century. The part of the Jordan river to the Mediterranean was known as a political district called Sandjak Akka. a sub region of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, which was predominantly Islamic Arab, with 10% Christians and 5% Jewish. Even that fact is irrelevant. What is relevant is that these Arabs were a native population, not conquerors, descendants of residing Islamic Semites living there for more than a millennium. These inhabitants and their present day descendants are the rightful heirs to the lands, not the newcomers Israelis.
4
@Rudy Ludeke
First, the Ottomans held it until WWI.
Second, you are making an argument that I own the land my ancestors lived on--like it's passed down through some kind of inviolate will. What is the limiting principle to that concept? Both the Israelis and Arabs could make that claim I suppose, but so could the Italians, Syrians, Eygptians, Iranians and Iraqis and other groups as well.
Your argument picks one point in history I suppose as the determination time.
Israelis would say they "we were first" and the Arabs were invaders.
In my mind, it's all nonsensical. It's impossible to try to turn back the clock to some arbitrary era. The Israeli's claimed the West Bank when Jordan possessed it and the world didn't care. It's the facts on the ground that determine control.
The annexation of the West Bank by Israel is an inevitability. The country is not viable in its current geographical form in light of its hostile neighbors. Gaza has proven this in spades.
13
The Palestinians have forced him to do this for security. It’s that simple.
12
I'd be interested to know the role that Jared Kushner is playing in all of this.
Perhaps Avi Berkowitz - Jared's former 'coffee boy' - who's now a top-level player in the peace process will be able to weigh in.
Avi's opening statement at a forthcoming meeting will be: "Would you like fries with that?"
This is the level of diplomatic expertise being advanced by the Trump Administration.
NOT my president
5
Disgusting. Between this and Putin's annexation of Crimea, the world's dictators have announced that international law and human rights are dead.
17
Why not annex all of the West Bank? Jordan too? The whole Middle East. In fact, annex the US too. It's already the same country. Only then can Israel feel secure.
11
So Netanyahu intends to confine Palestine to the Gaza strip. Why doesn't the UN step in including with troops. We watched Putin take Crimea and now Netanyahu Palestine. This is an outrage.
12
Talk is cheap!
UN has no troops!
Would you be willing to contribute US boots to the cause!
3
Maybe this was coordinated with our new National Security Advisor, Jared kushner?
7
Man...Trump seems to just be itching to get into a war. I used to think that our troops were involved in foreign countries to promote democracy and defend us from aggressors.
Now we are on dangerous ground with many nations unfriendly to the US...N Korea, Philippines, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Chine (via Hong Kong), Venezuela (I am sure that I left some out here) and probably the only real ally we have left that we haven't offended because Bibi is able to manipulate Trump. Rather than negotiate so that all the people in the region could interact without fear, enjoy commerce and growth, and have the freedom to practice their religions, we are perpetrating the unrest between Israelis and Palestinians. And where is the UK who established the boundaries of Israel on Palestinian land in the first place?
As the song goes "I(we) gotta get outta this place". We have enough domestic crises at home (created by our dear leader) without perpetuating those abroad. If Trump was a true Nationalist, he would keep his nose out of other countries business, and that goes for those cream-puff Trump organization "deals" as well. He was elected to fill the office. Unfortunately he is filling it with rot.
3
One Bantustan instead of several. How elegant.
5
No one should be surprised that P.M. Netanyahu has annexation plans for most of the West Bank. At this past Passover Seder, instead of reciting the famous phrase, "Next year in Jerusalem" Netanyahu recited it as "annex year in Jerusalem".
4
This despicable chapter should be prosecuted for literal and figurative war crimes. Another hateful voice that the world can do without. There was such an opportunity for a benevolent leader to step forward in Israel but instead Israel clings to an unevolved individual who thinks tough is the future.
9
And if the Palestinians respond to the illegal annexation of land, of the Israeli aggression against them, the Palestinians will be labeled “terrorists”.
Yet if the US responded to a similar land grab at its borders, we’d be hailed as justified.
Inevitable aggression by Netanyahu, supported by an immoral, soulless American grifter of a president- another shame to add to a long list from Trump & company.
18
Access to water and water rights are vital now and will be invaluable in the future, which is what this map reveals and emphasizes.
11
This day was eventually going to come . . .end the occupation and either annex or cut it loose.
The Arab world brought this on when it declared war on Israel in '67 and again in '73. Israel only made matters worse by dithering as to what to do with the occupied territories.
At some point a decision will have to be made about the Golan Heights . . .I don't see Israel giving it back to Syria . . .that plot of land has way more strategic significance than the Sinai.
Cutting the Gaza strip loose was an easy call; it's sandwiched between the sea and Israel.
The West Bank is another matter. Ultimately this will play out to be a one state solution. At that point, and if it is truly a democracy, then Israel will have to grant full citizenship to those it finds in what are now the occupied territories.
98
Or chase them off the land. I’d say history, and political expediency for Right wing Israel chooses this path.
32
@Phil Hurwitz
Phil is correct. Israel was attacked by multiple Arab countries and won in '67 & 73. There's no good reason to return the West Bank. War fortunate or unfortunately changes boundaries. The US didn't return Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California to Mexico after that war for example. No one seems to talk about the displaced Jews from the Arab countries who lived there for centuries. Israel absorbed them vs. the Arab countries purposely leaving those Arabs to a non state status and thus a de facto state of war against Israel. Combine that with the stated goal by Hamas to eliminate the State of Israel, there's no good reason to have a state created on your border that has this goal.
42
@Phil Hurwitz yep. finally the palestinians will have rights.
8
Netanyahu , promises and will deliver to please the settlers with large families ; he needs their votes. What will the rest of the Israelis do ? Netanyahu is Trump's alter-ego , with both it is about winning and enriching themselves by hook or crook . Sadly the ongoing Palestinian conflict will only get worse ; bad for both sides and possibly escalating a bigger conflict in the middle east . With these two it is all about the now self gratification and not tomorrow 's future affecting all .
5
How about a cause for a nice big war? This is pushing it.
So the Israeli election is clear enough. Does Israel want at lest an indifferent status quo? Some of the people get to vote.
Good very good, finally decisive action. Keep taking up slivers of the west bank til nothing is left for a Palestinian state, they refused every other offer, and deserve nothing more.
6
@ST
And then what? There would be no Palestinian state but there still would be Palestinians. Israel would either have to give them the vote or create an apartheid state; either option would be the end of the homeland envisioned by its founders. Beware of the law of unintended consequences.
4
Contrary to what many are writing below, it is not about Trump.
This one is on the back of the Israeli voter. Time to do the right thing and vote for real change.
6
I whole heartedly always wanted a two state solution but that is a reality that will never exist. It’s time to make all Israel whole and or make it all Palestine. War is terrible but to solve this problem in the end only one country will exist
5
Could anything less be expected with Jared Kushner negotiating a Middle East peace? The Trumps are Netanyahu’s pawns.
5
The Arabs have shown no willingness to live in peace with Israel. The Gaza faction openly says its goal is to eliminate Israel and get rid of all its Jews. The PLO faction shows no signs of wanting to live in peace with Israel, teaches its children to hate Jews and Israel, glorifies terrorists with payments for terror acts and supports all manner of attacks against Israel, military, political and economic. If it wanted to show that it was interested in two countries living side by side in peace, would it be doing those things? Given the virulent hatred of Jews by the Arabs, there has never been any hope of two states living side by side in peace. If the Arabs want to keep the hope alive for that solution, they will have to give up the goal of eliminating Israel and focus of how to live in peace and cooperation with it. Netanyahu is merely taking advantage of the hand that the Arabs have dealt him.
10
What everyone should read is the companion article analyzing why the rest of the Arab world isn't outraged by Netanyahu's vow to annex the West Bank. The answer is simple--the other Arab states no longer consider the Palestinians a priority. The old "US" vs "THEM" mentality is long gone. The rest of the Arab leaders aren't interested in backing the losers anymore because they've learned that Israel isn't going anywhere. Israel is a reality that they've all grudgingly learned to live with.
10
Unless Netanyahu is going to follow up with an ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people, this doesn't sound like a smart move. Israelis cannot disenfranchise Palestinians living inside Israel's borders for too long. After that Palestinian-decent citizens will be the anathema of either the Jewish state or Israel's democracy.
1
I offer a different opinion. Why shouldn't the Jews take over the West Bank completely? What difference does it make if Arab's live there, or any other person for that matter. Israel offers people excellent health care, educational opportunities, a flourishing economy, outstanding self protection services is it safer to fly into any airport my than Tel Aviv? Compare Israel to the surrounding countries in these areas: government, economy, healthcare, education. Why don't the Arab's stop calling themselves Arabs and just become citizens. The Jews have been forced to do this for more than 2,000 years; they have become Germans, French, American. The Israeli's know how to govern and run a major thriving economy. Stop labeling and just become a citizen, if allowed and take advantage. Or, here is the alternative, live in Saudi Arabia, or Yemen, or Afghanistan....
4
@RC Fine, But give all the Palestinians the vote. To do otherwise is apartheid.
3
If Saudi Arabia had wanted a Palestinian state, they would have created one.
6
Richard Phelps has it backwards. The land was Jewish
before it was Arab. It is the Jewish Homeland it was it is and it will always be. It wasn't given to the Jews, it was returned to the Jews.
6
@sjj if you want to be so precise, it's Canaanite land, actually.
5
And New York was owned by the Indians. And France by Romans, Visigoths, Normans, etc.
6
@sjj you planning on “returning” the USA to the Native American tribes? The Jewish people moved to Europe out of the Middle East and then moved back. The Palestinians never left.
4
!947-48 all over again - and he will have the full support of the US president and his Christian evangelist supporters.
Yesterday "Bibi" accused Iran of having a secret nuclear weapons programme - something the Israelis would never do. He knows how to win an election.
3
I am surprised that they aren't annexing more of the west bank. The west band is part of the biblical homeland of Israel and their birthright. It belongs to them and I am assuming that most jewish people want to take control of all of it immediately. It is at the core of jewish beliefs just like a belief in christ being our savior is a core belief in christianity.
4
You mean, like the US is the birthright of Native Americans? Please explain how you would distinguish the cases.
4
@EHill
I don't agree with what Israel is doing. I am just telling you the logic behind it and how strongly they feel about it.
Lets remember that the West Bank was occupied by Israel after the Arab nations ATTACKED ISRAEL and FAILED. It was not Israel who was the aggressor and it was Israels spoils of war to claim that land. It could still be in Arab hands if THEY hand not been the AGGRESSOR. But I guess those are inconvenient truths....
9
If "Arabs" are so concerned with Palestinians, why don't they cede lands to a state called Palestine?Israel won its independence and has had to defend itself ever since against Islam. Let the US-backed Jordan and other abutting Arab nations chip in some territory to build a real Palestine free from Israeli-secured territory. Perhaps, a naive solution, especially considering the greed of most nations and the ever-present animosity of Islam agaisnt Judaism.
5
Of course this is what he wants. He is a war monger and desperate to cling to power. What do we call it when one religious sect controls another without letting them have any representation in government? To hate Netanyahu and his crazy right wing party has zero to do with antisemitism. He never wanted a 2 state solution. He is Israel's Trump, out for himself, corrupt, and self aggrandizing. Please Israel, vote him out.
6
and the boycott is bad because?????????????????
9
In July a number of speakers and participants at a seminar I attended on "global antisemitism" at Oxford University were predicting exactly such a move on the part of the right wing Likud government under Netanyahu. The scheduling of further major West Bank annexation, several participants pointed out, would be premised on how long Trump would remain in office.
The only surprising thing here is Netanyahu's candor in admitting the obvious: Trump has provided the Israeli nationalists "a unique, one-off opportunity" for a further violation of international law, despite the encouragement of antisemitic outbursts by Trump's white ethno-nationalism in both the United States and Europe. No longer the stealthy salami tactics of expanding Jewish settlements into the West Bank--no, this time one big, opportunistic bite, encouraged by the United States that used to act as honest broker between rival claims of Jews and Arabs.
From the outset the logic of Zionism had to be pursued by dispossession of the indigenous Palestinian population and the expropriation of their land. "Sharing" Palestine in a "two state solution" may never have been more than a means to salve a guilty conscience. This seems now a tragically proven point.
481
@Dr. O. Ralph Raymond "Indigenous "? Are you for real?
as Zuheir Mohsein, a Member of the Supreme Council of the PLO admitted in 1977:
There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. *** It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity, because it is in the interest of the Arabs to encourage a separate Palestinian identity in contrast to Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity is there only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a new expedient to continue the fight against Zionism and for Arab unity.
The term "Palestinian entity" was not even mentioned in UN Resolution 242 after the Six-Day War. [ Thus, while the “Palestinian” is accepted today, it appears to be based on little more than cynicism.
25
@Dr. O. Ralph Raymond
I really do not think the US deserves the title of 'honest broker', also not in the past. The whole 'peace process' was just Israeli Zionists negotiating with just as ardent American Zionists about what scraps to throw to the Palestinians. And if the Palestinians refused what had been agreed upon by the two bosom buddies they were smeared by the American team as haters who refused a 'generous offer'. It has been madness watching this going on for decades. The US owes the Palestinians a big apology.
25
@Dr. O. Ralph Raymond
The two state solution was almost a given in the Israeli public discourse between 1994 and 2010. If you didn't support it, you were labeled a radical and shunned from the mainstream.
If you want to understand why this position has reversed, I can recommend you to:
1. Read this: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/opinion/israel-election-netanyahu.html
2. See how the Gaza disengagement played out for Israel. No Israeli wants a second Gaza, missiles and all, in the West Bank.
13
Netanyahu is putting a nail in the 2 state solutions' coffin - and doing so with Trump's support, what could possibly go wrong? As a supporter of Israel, I do really want to understand what the alternative to the 2 state solution is. Is he hoping that the other Arab states will suddenly give Palestinians citizenship and the opportunities that go with (despite not having done so over the decades)? Or is Israel about to become the new South Africa? If it maintains its democratic ideals, how do you give Arab citizens full rights (including voting) without losing the Jewish foundation? Or is Netanyahu abandoning democracy? A sad day for human rights.
226
2 state solution ? Palestine never has and never will ever accept such a thing.
6
@Elizabeth
Israel already is the new South Africa, if not worse. If Israel won’t be a party to a “two-state solution” - which it strongly suggests it will not, then it can either be a democracy or a Jewish-fascist regime. It cannot be both. The US can lead and morally support a two-state solution or possibly a TRUE Israel democracy (with stringent human rights protections in both cases). It cannot, and should not, support the sort of Zionist regime Bibi Netanyahu represents.
30
@Elizabeth
It already is the new South Africa! A sad day for the world.
25
Anyone surprised by this? I am not. Netanyahu will like his friend Trump do anything he sees neccessary to keep in power, and this is only to get the support of the right wingers.
The only thing that might counteract this, is the demise of Bolton, but let us wait and see.
In any event, the worst thing that I can think of for the Mid-East is that Netanyahu is re-elected.
240
@Don F Also, just like Trump, he wants to avoid corruption charges which he will be charged if he looses this election.
28
@Don F
Now we know how the "Ya Hoo" was added to Netan.
8
India annexed Kashmir, America Annexed Alaska, Israel wants to annex West Bank. It means Netanyahu will come into power.
10
@Amar
MInor point but the US purchased Alaska from a Russia that had a minimal presence in the area. Russia first made the offer to sell in 1859 believing that Alaska in the hands of the US would be more in Russia's interest than an Alaska under control of Great Britain. Keep in mind that Russia had just fought the Crimean War with Britain being one of its opponents.
50
@AmarSorry, the US paid Russia for Alaska, as it paid France for the Louisiana Purchase (as opposed to grabbing territory from Spain and Mexico, with the exception of the Gasden Purchase).
13
@Amarn Actually, America purchased Alaska from Russia who made the offer to sell and agreed to the price.
17
Not a wise move politically/officially, but if we are honest, it's Israeli policy to not give up the Jordan River Valley because of security. This is a crucial area. Even if the U.S. placed thousands of troops there to replace Israeli ones, which of course it will not/cannot do, Israel wouldn't agree to it. Plus, it would invite more, not less, attacks from Palestinians, and Jordanians, too.
Unless readers are familiar with how crucial this area is to Israeli security, and indirectly to Jordanian security, suggesting Israel pull out without a full bodied peace agreement (which would still require Israeli soldiers for a period of time) is silly, if not sinister. Leave it? Welcome ISIS, Al Qaeda, you name it.
10
Hopefully, among the younger generation, we can find leaders inspired by Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and The Dalai Lama.
2
@Hakuna Matata. I eagerly await the Palestinian Mandela or MLK.
3
@TMDJS
What's wrong with Abbas?
This is Netanyahu's "Hail Mary" to the Israeli electorate. It will not mollify those already opposed to his Trumpian tactics and the others are likely already supporters.
The longevity of the Netanyahu regime is more the product of Palestinian intransigence and their continued violence against Israelis, than it is due to admiration for Bibi.
Fractious Israeli politics makes for strange bedfellows and is even more unpredictable than our own. Life sure is interesting.
4
If anyone here in the US needed more proof that electing Trump has made the situation in the Middle East worse, this is it. Bibi is not just trying to ride Trump’s coattails (Trump is apparently even more popular in Israel than Netanyahu). He’s putting Trump in a headlock, and offering in not so very veiled language American cover for his illegal annexation of the West Bank. That means American blood and treasure are on the line in the Israeli election on September 17th.
And given that Trump is likely to walk into Bibi’s fan blades of his own free will, we should all be frightened. I have no confidence in the administration to prevent us from getting entangled in this, nor do I think Congress will be of much help. This might just be the religious war Republicans think will propel Trump to a second term (because it’s looking increasingly likely like the economy won’t do it).
I beseech all Democrats to fight this narrative and for all presidential candidates to point out to American voters how dangerous this is. A potential narrative for Democrats could be that Trump couldn’t find a way to say yes/negotiate a deal in Afghanistan, and now his fecklessness is potentially drawing us militarily into the most volatile and intractable dispute in the world. Is this what we want for our country?
8
Not surprising Netanyahu doesnt fear criticism when we shrug or wink at the India Govt's occupation and disenfranchisement of its population, when many governments makes excuses for China or Burma's brutal treatment of minorities, when Trump wants to bring Russia back to the G7 despite its seizure of the Crimea etc.
The poisonous, paranoid populism of Israel will never bring peace. But we could escape the cycle of violence if we made the effort. It calls for wisdom and humility.
4
The most logical and peaceful solution to co-existence in this area of the world is to demand that Jordan (70% Palestinian) become a sister state with a new Palestine. This is a peaceful easy idea that requires a logical and sensible Jordanian and Palestinian meeting of the minds.
It also requires an international plan to do this. The above, sadly, is not on the table because the region is immersed in tribal hatreds that preclude rational decision making. Nevertheless it is the appropriate solution and I for one hope cooler heads can see the way forward.
3
@David Kesler. Yes, but Jordan is ruled by a Hashemite minority and want no part of Palestinian terrorism themselves.
2
Netanyahu will do whatever is best for his country. We should not meddle into their internal affairs. We should focus on problems inside our own country before giving sermons on morality to others. Netanyahu is a patriot and he has Israel’s best interest at his heart.
7
@Resident
We have every right to express an opinion when we are giving $ 3 billion a year to Israel. Their actions are not simply their internal affair when they are being funded by the US taxpayer's dime!
3
What’s the difference? They’ve been there for 52 years. That’s a blink of an eye in world history.
This is just the Bar Levi line theorem again.
I'd suggest a real "win-win" opportunity.
Donald Trump gives Netanyahu his personal permission to steal the Jordan Valley.
In turn, Netanyahu gives Donald Trump his personal permission to steal Greenland.
Everyone a winner! Step right up!
4
When you have to cite the American government as proof and permission for doing something so inherently wrong, you have really lost your way. This is a classic case of the blind leading the blind.
6
Anything to be reelected? It's time for sane leadership. Vote Blue and White.
What does “international law” bring to the table in this conflict? Nothing really! Historically the area was claimed by Turks, British, Arabs, and Jews in succession. There were multiple attempts to achieve peace, all unable to resolve the conflicts, and hate won over and over! The turmoil persists and peace has never been present. It’s everyone’s failure to compromise. Can’t be done without it. Like it or not!!
1
This is a rare moment of honesty in Israeli politics. There has not been much doubt that Palestinians would never have a nation despite protestations to the contrary. The only question is whether they will be forced out into a neighboring state - Jordan or Lebanon - as stateless human beings or live under an oppressive Israeli regime as stateless human beings. I’m sure they will resist using the only weapon that they have - their willingness to die.
Meanwhile, back here in the USA any criticism of Zionist policies will be branded as anti-Semitic, conveniently ignoring that the Palestinians share a Semitic heritage with various Jewish populations. Our religious right and our non-religious right will, for different reasons, continue to find common cause with Zionist Jews. And all of them will share common opposition to Muslims, further inflaming our religious bigotry. I guess our White Supremacists will be content to hate both sides and will just be happy if there is misery and bloodshed. And in this and many other areas of human relations, Donald Trump will continue to display his unerring ability to make every problem worse, diminish our standing among nations and pit our own citizens against one another.
So, is this a harbinger of things to come? Will we finally succeed in bringing the apocalypse to Jerusalem and then the rest of our increasingly belligerent world?
10
@Mike Iker. Or, the Palestinians could have accepted the offers for peace and statehood offered to them in 1948, 2000, 2001, 2008 and 2014 and just given up on the whole kill all the Jews thing.
4
Next thing will be the promise that Mexico will pay for the annexation of the West Bank.
Netanyahu should be working towards a two state solution.
This pandering to the extreme right with no reasonable chance of peace is straight out of the Trump playbook.
Pathetic.
7
It's like they never learned their lesson of having the temple destroyed by the Persians. Don't go attacking minorities and steal their traditions and homelands. It's evil.
Jewish people of Israel and around the world should be ashamed of what this country does in their names. No better than Russia annexing Crimea. It's in fact worse, because Israel is nominally a respectable democracy. In reality, their political alignments are based on generational disenfranchisement of their Arab population and segregationist policies. Divide and conquer?
25
This makes the case for equal rights for all in Palestine-Israel. About time.
15
Little Donnie and Bibi are cartoon characters.
Promise hawkish voters anything and everything, then deliver on nothing.
15
This will inspire Trump to draw the Sharpie Line around Greenland again - maybe adding Newfoundland.
15
A democratically leader openly announces that he will "annex" territory that does not belong to his country and we play along ?
Wow!
26
Netanyahu's alleged corruption is only exceeded by his rapacious ego and greed!
9
The Wind of War are coming Israel’s way thank to Netanyahu and Crazy Yrump.
First, recognizing Jerusalem as capital and moving US Embasdy.
Second, Golan Heights annexed.
The list goes on and on...
12
This is an act of blind self-destruction. At least the pre-liberation South African regime never deluded itself into thinking it was a democracy. Israel is worse because its government, as well as its shameless U.S. supporters, profess to be different than South Africa.
18
Newsflash: A piece of ancient parchment has been discovered that places the Holy Land someplace in Kansas. Bibi now wants to annex that part of the U.S. to his real-estate collection. What say you, Mr. "President"? (Note: Kansan evangelicals are mulling it over.)
19
Another Trumpian-like political promise based on religious bigotry. Apparently, Netanyahu also thinks he is the chosen one.
14
Any good building sites for a luxury golf resort over there?
10
Just paint a bullseye on Israel with the backlash this will provoke. Stupid move. Certainly makes the peace process impossible. So Israel will exist with an imprisoned population within it's borders. Swell.
13
Well, well, well. Surprise, surprise. Bibi the criminal continues to move forward with what will ultimately be the ruination of Israel. But those of us who call him out and ask that the US stop financially supporting this disgraceful excuse for a human being are called "anti-semitic". We can't even have a conversation in which we ask Israel to stop its destructive policies. I'm an American taxpayer, and I'm sick of funding this particular terrorist.
23
Amen.
2
If Netanyahu wins this election, Israel as a "Jewish" state is doomed. It may take a few generations, but without a two-state solution, Israel will have to practice apartheid in order to keep the Jewish faith in power. This may work for awhile, but in the long run it is doomed to failure - Arabs at some point will have to be given the right to vote. And since the Arabs living in Israel outnumber the Jews, Israel will then become essentially an Arab state.
Since this land was ruled by the Arabs before being given to the Jews, this will most likely turn out for the best. For the Jews it is unfortunate that not enough of them seem to realize all this.
12
*wait* Isn't Israel's annexation of Palestinian lands, albeit occupied, illegal under international law?
18
Another sad day for the Palestinians and for peace in the Middle East.
8
@Oliver. If only there was a peace offer and a chance at statehood that the Palestinians had an opportunity to accept!! Oh wait, there was in 1948, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2014....
3
OMG!! The hand wringing by your readers. For years the Palestinian Arabs were presented deals that they rejected; were given Gaza, etc only to start a 2nd Intifada killing hundreds of Jews. And now the shock that Israeli people have had enough, that the people themselves don’t believe true peace is possible.
Of course it’s true that Israel seems to box itself in with this move. But it’s their land and their lives. Their choice through democratic elections.
As far as the money we give Israel, more details are needed, but I recall that this was part of Camp David deal and Egypt gets the same.
10
@Mel
No, not the same.
And what is Egypt annexing?
1
Now that Sheldon Adelson's tool, John Bolton, is out perhaps the dynamics might change. Just as there is a strong anti-trump contingent here, there is a strong anti-netanyahu contingent in Israel. And like here, the grotesque leadership must be thrown out if there is any chance.
7
The religious right of Israel wags the United States -- amazing.
Where is separation of Church and State in our foreign policy?
8
Whoa. For a second there, I thought I was hearing Vladimir Putin talk about Crimea...
9
Wall Street: buy all the military stock you can. Israel is gonna drive prices thru the roof. A gun for everyone. A gun for all seasons. Guns, guns.guns. It's shoot'em up time.Go West Bank, my son.
3
Most of the munitions are manufactured in Israel with the exception of the F-35s they are using for regional air strikes.
Maybe Trump will put a portrait of Bibi up in the Oval Office right next to Andrew Jackson as his Hall of Fame of annexors of other people's land.
7
Don't be a piker, grab it all.
1
To all the readers of the NYTimes--please do not be surprised when the next Palestinian Intifada ignites. It's a miracle Palestinians have been so peaceful in the face of an Israeli government that has made it clear it intends to continue to seize their lands and ethnically cleanse them. It's only a matter of time, and the fault will lie squarely with the government of Israel, whose racist policies of land theft based on ethnic identity make no other outcome possible.
19
No comment as it will be considered antiseptic. BDS!!
4
If you're a tin pot dictator, it's the Wild Wild West out there... things couldn't be brighter...
For those that dig democracy... not so bright.
5
Remember everyone, it is your duty as an American to not even consider exerting your rights to question Israel. You can't boycott them, divest from them, or sanction them, so says the US Congress. This is because everything Israel does is good and just, and anyone who doubts that self-evident truth must be an anti-Semite. Just ignore the fact that they are an apartheid state increasingly subjugating their mostly powerless neighbors. Trust that no matter how many Palestinians get crushed under Israeli tanks, there was really nothing else they could have done.
125
@Kal Al
And this rhetoric is going to achieve... what? Out here in the real world never questioning Israel is a very different thing from eliminating the Jewish homeland. "mostly powerless" is a very different thing than inciting violence and celebrating murderers. Seeking peace is a very different thing than waging an endless war.
So what are you accomplishing? You're encouraging Palestinians to keep fighting and making Israelis more frightened for their lives. As a result, many more Palestinians will "get crushed under Israeli tanks". Doesn't sound to me like you actually care about the welfare of the Palestinians.
4
And ignore and trust that it’s ok if your freedoms are taken away; like speech and assembly.
4
This is Netanyahu seeking to change the election dynamics which currently do not favor him. He has done this before, asserting in a recent election, that the Arabs are voting and that Jews better come out and vote for him—it did work.
This effort will also fail but is more ominous. For two reasons, it will encourage the Arab population to resist more violently (read intifada), which he cynically yearns for so he can be Israel’s protector. And second, it shows his total lack of understanding of American politics—his reliance on Trump. We here in America know Trump is for Trump and no one else. But also, the day may come when Trump is gone and the Democrats, as well as others, will remember Israel’s loyalty to Trump.
I pray he will be defeated soundly in the coming elections. Otherwise Israel will be facing the world alone.
42
True. Intifada would be an enormous boost to Bibi's re-election chances, and he doesn't care how many people; including Israelis; have to die to get him there. Horrible.
2
"Mr. Netanyahu said he wanted to capitalize on what he called the “unique, one-off opportunity” afforded him by the Trump administration...."
I've heard that expression lots of times. Mostly it was with reference to time share rental opportunities and bargain basement land sales in southern Florida and Arizona. However, I think I'll take a pass. If it sounds too good to be true..... (you know the rest).
20
We can assume that the “Master” of the anticipated Israeli/Palestinian Peace Plan, Trump special envoy Kushner knew in advance of this election-hastened, territorial grab. Of course, he is expected to endorse whatever his bff Netanyahu desires. If Kushner’s plan was already considered to be d.o.a., then this stay out of jail tactic by Netanyahu will make it dead before arrival. Is there an historical parallel between what white South Africa implemented under apartheid and this latest concoction?
11
Sigh. This means more death. And more death after that. For a land grab.
I hope that our younger folks will somehow rise up and seize power from these absolutely despicable old white men.
For the first time in history we have a generation with encyclopedias in the palm of their hands and the ability to use information to make better decisions quickly . They just have to have the will to use it and not give in to the perception of helplessness.
Signed,
An old white man.
29
The Israelis should be ashamed of their 1939 tactics.
Next they can hire Bolton for a diplomatic representative to Iran.
22
@Dry Socket
Actually, the Arab world isn't very impressed. In truth, they don't like the Palestinians. See how Lebanon, and Syria, have treated these people since 1948.
6
Dateline: Israeli Election 2020
Netanyahu pledges to take all land along the Mediterranean Sea and north of the land formerly known as The Golan Heights. He insists that doing so will "finally give our country it's strongest protection permanently securing our land. Who needs Syria and Lebanon? That's not even their original names, right? Okay?" He also stated that "any Arabs left over will be excluded from voting ever in any election and I mean NEVER!" He said, "Not only that but they will be excluded from everything else. Let them move back to wherever it was they came from."
8
I am a supporter of Israel, not of Netanyahu.
This was bound to happen - I hope it doesn’t work and that the Israeli voters dump Netanyahu and voters here dump Trump next year.
17
Was this in Jared's plan. Could this be the reason the Trump point person on Israel/Palestinian settlement decided to leave his post? Bibi ran this by Trump so his services were no longer needed?
4
Israel has no other choice but to annex the West Bank as long as Hamas and Hezbola and the PLO want to destroy Israel. The West Bank would become a launching pad for Palestinian rockets if the West Bank was given back to the Palestinians just like what happened in Gaza. Israel should have kept both Gaza and the Sinai! I am not a Jew or an admirer of Natenyahu!
14
There will be no peace in the Middle East now or ever.
10
@Christopher C. Lovett Religion was the apple in Eden. It guaranteed that we'd have population control by religious war, since we are too stupid a species to practice it any other way.
I used to back Israel; until they became Trump supporters. Now; I want my $3 Billion in taxes back that Trump gives them.
17
@Ray Sipe
Under the U.S. negotiated Camp David agreement, Egypt gets the same as Israel does. There is no monolith in Israel just as there is none in the U.S. Some folks support Trump & Netanyahu, others support neither.
1
@Carey Adina Karmel
Egypt does NOT get the same, much less - about $ 1.5 billion a year, take or leave a few millions. Still, a nice piece of change. As long as they keep their promise to never attack Israel again. What I "call peace with honor".
1
If Israel does this let’s be clear: another lifetime of perpetual war. This madness from Israel must stop. Oh and I was raised Jewish but stopped supporting Israel some 15 years ago when it started inciting war, first with Sharon and amplified with Bibi.
22
@Dennis I believe it was Israeli researchers who established that Sharon sent his troops to slaughter civilians in order to terrorize Arabs into fleeing desired territory in 1948.
Some day, Trump and Netanyahu will be gone. I pray for mankind that day comes sooner rather than later.
13
@WeHadAllBetterPayAttentionNow
Alas Abu Mazen will still be there. But heyx that's despotism for you.
1
How would this be any different than Putin stealing the Crimea? Part of Georgia? Should we be sanctioning Bibi and those responsible for such action as we have with the Russians?
The true face of Israel emerges as they’ve denied Palestine the right to exist from the start. They’ve been dancing around and deceiving the world from the start of their true intent - to wipe Palestine off the map and cleanse it of its native population. In addition to a god given right, as is lamely claimed, but now as a trump given right.
Bibi is turning the Star of David into yet another fascist symbol of hate and oppression like the hammer and sickle and that spider looking symbol from last century flags. And trump will make Americans fully complicit in this humanitarian atrocity. Will Europe stand idly by?
21
@PAN Most Jews are in the front lines of decency and racial tolerance. It is people like Sharon and Netanyahu who have perverted the Star of David into a Hakenkreuz.
Any pretense that the state of Israel is a democratic country operating on a set of values that excludes imperialism is long gone under Netanyahu. Having become just another garden variety thuggish country, they have used the hostility towards them to justify greater and greater land grabs.
It's hard to see how this endears them to other western democtacies that abide by the rule of law. Was "might makes right" the principle on which the Jewish homeland was founded following the Holocaust?
Not the way I was taught history.
21
@ChristineMcM Arab violence towards Jews has marked this conflict from the very beginning: 1920, '21, '29, '36-'39, and the rejection of the UN resolution and the 1948 war of annihilation waged against the Jews.
Palestinians have turned down territorial compromises time and again ('37, '47, '78, 2000, 2007, 2008). If that was the issue, the conflict would be long over. Arab unwillingness to accept a Zionist entity anywhere between the river and the sea, no matter how exiguous, is the issue. Do note the sempiternal terror and rejectionism.
One can't shun peace forever and expect no aftereffects. No, might doesn't make right, but if one side's narrative is about total victimhood and claims destruction is the only just outcome, then thank God for might. As for the Jews in Israel, considering the millennia of persecution of their people, most are far less concerned with Westerners' feelings than with their continued existence.
Jordanians were warned twice in 1967 not to get involved. They did; there were consequences. Few grumbled when the Jordanians ran the West Bank as a prison. And they have renounced their claim to it. So is it occupied? As for peace, Arafat flat-out admitted in South Africa that the negotiations were a ploy to buy time until the Palestinians were stronger. Palestinians need clean political institutions and non-pandering leaders; then peace will come, Netanyahu or no Netanyahu. Palestinians have to value a state of their own more the elimination of Israel.
1
Palestinians had many chances to get their state. Israel offered them a lot more than they deserved in 2000 but they rejected that just like they rejected every other offer. They wouldn't recognize Israel even if it was the size of a post stamp, as they like to say. They will continue doing that, while engaging in blind violence, until their potential state is the size of a post stamp.
Whenever Israel gave them something they responded with more violence. It's time for the only Middle Eastern democracy to change their strategy and start taking away land from Palestinians, who only know how to abuse it for terroristic purposes, as this is the only way to achieve security. The violent Palestinians who don't want to accept any land for their state, are free to move to Jordan.
The opinion of Western antisemitic left and right is irrelevant. Jews deserve a fully protected state and will get it whether the anti-semites like it or not.
12
@natan
Again, stop with this”anti Semites” trope.
And who are you to say what Palestinian Arabs (Muslim and Christian, and both Semitic) ‘deserve?’ An alternative might be that they ‘deserve’ all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, as well as their right to return their displaced ancestors’ properties in Israel, properties that were confiscated by Israel. That they would accept nothing less seems justified, although they might.
4
I guess Bibi's tracking polls must look really bad! This decision is nothing more than cold - calculated political self-preservation.
5
He has almost zero chance of carrying this out. If you believe otherwise, you are among the outsiders who do not really understand the ground game. Jordan would leave the relationship with Israel, as will Egypt and Turkey (very shaky ground anyway). Netanyahu is a villian and nothing more. Israelis are smart as well as weary and they know exactly who plucks the strings of war at each and every interval. They also know exactly what a fine and wise man Gen. Benny Gantz is. Gantz's reputation is impeccable and in fact, he technically beat Netanyahu last time. Netanyahu will eventually follow Omert to prison and likely sooner rather than later.
6
What happened to the Kushner Peace Plan?? Did it dissolve in the solvent of plain water.
7
@Philip W
I think it's a piece by piece plan.
3
No one should be surprised by this. Netanyahu only used the fiction of a "two state' solution as a holding pattern while gradual annexation was taking place.
But formal annexation raises the status of the Palestinian's to a whole new level. They clearly will not be Israeli citizens.
At least during the early phases of the occupation they had a recognizable legal status under international law. Now they have been reduced to captives in a military controlled prison compound.
But the real question is where does the United States stand on this? Congress has been very quick to pass "we support Israel" resolutions. So do we now endorse ethnic cleansing, imprisonment and the complete erasure of Palestinian rights as US policy?
Critiques of US policy toward Israel have warned for years that this would happen and were routinely attacked as anti-Semitic. Now it's been announced as official Israeli policy.
Netanyahu has basically done to the Palestinians what the US did to Native Americans.
13
@Drspock
Not to worry. As far as US supporters of current Israeli policy will tell you, the End Times will happen before any of that can happen.
2
I think the mainstream American media has enabled this action by consistently finding excuses for Israel's behavior, by creating false equivalencies between Palestinian resistance and disproportionate Israeli attacks and presenting a one sided view of this tragic conflict.
It is not AIPAC that scares the Congressional reps.
It is the steady and insidious support that Israeli actions get from print and TV reporters, analysts, think tanks in America painting any one that dares to question Israeli actions as pro-terrorism, anti-democracy, anti-liberal values. That picture undermines liberal support for the Congressional representatives during an election, jeopardizing their chance of success.
American supporters of Israel have created this monster. Now they have to figure out how to restrain and neutralize it.
6
Does Israel realize the in the long term this position may lead some terrorist groups do something truly horrific?
6
If Israel can annex the West Bank, why can't China "annex" Taiwan? The island of Taiwan was under Chinese sovereignty for centuries before being taken by the Japanese in 1901 or so. It then became a refuge for Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalists after their defeat in 1949 by Mao's Communists. The Nationalists essentially displaced the local Taiwanese and established a dictatorship that lasted until the 1990s, when democratic election finally started to take place. Now we see the West Bank, a place where the Jews briefly held sovereignty at the dawn of recorded history, about 1000 bce until overthrown by the Assyrians in 722 bce and then by the Babylonians and the Persians a few hundred years later. The area has been the homeland of a Palestinian Arab people for many centuries. Today's Israelis have less claim to the West Bank than the mainland Chinese to Taiwan. Might does not make right.
15
@Mike
I don't recall the Taiwanese conducting terrorism attacks killing hundreds on the mainland, or inciting themselves to wipe China from the map.
If Israel had just wanted to annex the West Bank they would have done it a long time ago. What was stopping them? The brave martyrs?
3
@Mike The Judean Hills and Jordan Rift Valley were known as Palestine from the 5th century BCE. It's in the histories of Heredotus and of Aristotle, who had a very good description of the Dead Sea. No mention by either of Hebrews or Israelites; the local ruler was Egyptian
The Levant has a long human history and the sovereignty of Hebrews/Israelites/Jews was relatively brief. It lasted about 518 intermittent years between 1000 BCE (founding of David's kingdom) and 70 CE (final defeat by the Romans), interrupted by conquest 11 times.
That reign came between the 2,000 year old culture of the Canaanites, founders of Jerusalem, and the 1500 year dominance of Muslim Arabs, 600s CE to the present. Abraham was an immigrant from modern day Iraq. No kingdom existed prior to the invasion of Hebrews from Egypt, c. 1200.
How this makes modern Jews "Indigenous," how this supports a claim to "exclusive" possession, is objectively hard to fathom. More like claiming the moment your gang was on top was the only important one and all else in history is merely irrelevant. Other people are just inconveniently in the way 2,000 years later.
2
Americans largely don't understand that Israel is currently at war. The Palestinians have been continuously fighting to eliminate Israel since before 1948, and are still laboring under the illusion that they will "push the Jews into the sea". The Palestinians rejection of peace initiatives, and incitement of terrorism that has killed hundreds of Israelis in the last 2 decades have convinced Israelis to elect tough talking right wing politicians. The majority doesn't feel as though they're being given a choice by the Palestinians. Fight or lose the country.
So they're going to fight, with or without anyone's help, regardless of international campaigns. It's not paranoia when they actually are trying to kill you.
To be sure, the right wing is taking advantage of Israelis' fear, and Palestinians are being oppressed, but threatening Israelis isn't going to help the Palestinians. If you really care about the Palestinians you need to start thinking seriously about how you can help them give up their war. Only then can they start prospering. Hating Jews really is not going to help them.
11
@Mike Holloway
The world needs to pressure Palestinians, and their unelected leaders, to give up on war, and go back to serious negotiations. Leave the Russians out of this; they do not understand peace.
Serious peace talks, with experts on security, borders, mutual agreements (have to be, the land mass they share is tiny, and water is a big problem) need to get involved. Only the U.S. and perhaps a few European countries could offer some neutral advise. AND, a special enjoy for combating anti-Semitic media and textbooks would be deployed, for years, otherwise the terrorist attempts will never cease. It could take longer than a generation to accomplish that.
3
@Mike Holloway
Love to help. We can start by forcing Israel to be a secular democratic state instead of a Jewish state. Then we can return to pre 1967 borders. And then finally can we return property in Israel and the West Bank seized from Arabs by Israel to its rightful owners and their descendants? (I am uninterested in biblicist claims, so save the chosen people nonsense.)
4
@Dan
I'm not getting the sense you want to help. Israel will be remaining the Jewish homeland and has the military power to insure that with or without US help. All you're doing is encouraging the Palestinians in their war and thus insuring their continued suffering. They can't win. Not an aspiration. It's just the facts.
The "two-state" solution has been dead for over a decade now. Time for a new plan.
6
When Soviet troops marched into eastern Germany in 1945, they pushed the German people out at the point of bayonets. Their land was lost---forever. This was the price for the war they waged and lost. Native American were herded, like cattle, into smaller and smaller areas called reservations, to our nation's shame. Israel deserves secure borders from land attack. To achieve this they want to purge their eastern territories of non-Israelis. Why don't they offer each Palestinian family they displace a stipend, (say $1 million US dollars) for resettlement in Jordan (which has always been an artificially created nation and is already heavily populated by Palestinians), so a new life can begun for these people. Such an expenditure is much cheaper in the long-run than constant military spending and funeral expenses for innocents.
4
@historyguy How about giving each Israeli family $1 million and have them move to Miami?
1
Israel and any hopes of a Middle East peace would do well by Netanyahu---I'll grab the land and its my way or the highway--- losing the election. That he is enamored of our increasingly more authoritarian President is to be expected.
The two of them--any espousal of history by Netanyahu to the contrary-- appear to have no knowledge of what aggrandizement means. If one in the slightest espouses democracy, both leaders deserve condemnation
1
“Give me the power to make myself above the law, and I will make myself King fo life.”
2
Yay, welcome to the Apocalypse. I wonder what the Evangelical Fundamentalist End-timers will do when they are not "raptured", Jesus doesn't return and the Middle East is reduced to ashes.
9
The harsh reality is that as long as Israel has the military advantage, there will be no Palestine, and if they lose it, there will be no Israel.
6
@Kevin Reality is Reality. No argument here. The PLO and the various offspring have failed to seek peace for some 70 years. It is what it is!
Had they chosen a non-violent campaign they may have achieved peace. They don't want peace. The BDS is a cynical attempt to awaken the old scourge of anti-Semitism. They maintain a policy of rewarding murderers by paying their families.
3
I wonder if Jared Kushner has a contingency plan for this? Surely he's thought of all possibilities? This may throw a kink into that super-secret peace plan of his.
1
I sincerely hope that all of my friends in Israel think long and hard about the coming election----which is just as important to Israel's future as our own 2010 election is to America's future. Those of us who have supported Israel since the very beginning are now finding too many painful reasons to hesitate in our support.
Netanyahu and his policies will not save Israel or its people---the future of both Israel and America depends upon removing those like Netanyahu and Trump who peddle hate and fear, while returning to leaders who understand the original vision that made both Israel and America so impressive and strong for so many years. This is a critical turning point for both nations.
6
If Mr Netanyahu is re-elected thanks to Mr Trump's unwavering support, then imagine what an asset he would be for the Trump 2020 campaign. Israel could just dial up tension with Iran leading into November 2020. It'll give Mr Trump ample opportunity to look strong and resolute.
1
Netanyahu is desperate.
We're so worried that Trump will do or say anything just before the elections in 2020, like start a war.
We should be more worried about what Netanyahu will do.
3
Netanyahu's move demonstrates vision and courage.
Make no mistake: The Israelis would invest in the West Bank to further education and development.
The "two-state solution" has been dead for years. Perhaps the proposed annexation would finally move the area forward.
Israel is not asking the Palestinians to change their religion.
Don't rush to condemn Netanyahu's proposal. It's constructive, although there will doubtless be plenty of naysayers and Israel-haters who automatically excoriate Netanyahu and Israel.
The proposed annexation would represent a huge investment by Israel in an area that has been stuck in the mud of intolerance and poor Palestinian leadership for decades. Against such a background, chances are annexation would have a good outcome.
8
This policy declaration to annex the Jordan Valley is not only a desperate gambit for votes but extremely harmful to the security of Israel because admittedly it is based, and fully dependent, upon Netanyahu's "personal relationship" with Trump who may be gone very soon.
Congress has not determined that it is in the U.S. interest to annex the Jordan Valley so will this annexation, if it occurs, weaken U.S. support for Israel?
Israel's Knesset has not considered whether or not annexation will be a plus for Israel so making this pronouncement, which already has had effects in Israel's neighborhood can be quite harmful even if not done.
There are those who believe Netanyahu contributed to the atmosphere that led to the asasination of Rabin, this is another reckless act of a similar magnitude that demonstrates Netanyahu is too irresponsible to lead
3
Decade after decade of state sponsored assassination and land grabs versus endless terrorism. The only thing some folks seem to imagine for dealing with this endless nightmare is to intensify their own worst actions. I really don't see how this serves the long term interests of Israel or anyone. I can appreciate how terribly difficult it is to break this hopeless cycle especially as it is fuelled by hate on both sides, justified distrust on both sides, and a denial of history. Clearly Mr Netanyahu is not the one to do it.
3
I'm Jewish, I've lived there. This is just so wrong. Time for Israel to reach out to Palestine, to recognize it as a state and work to support it. Time to utterly change direction, tactics, strategies, and build alliances not divisions. My Yiddishe heart is breaking.
7
The two state solution is dead. Time to push for a full annexation, revise the constitution so that the new state will be secular with equal status for Jews, Arabs and other minorities. All Palestinians in west bank and Gaza should get Isralie citizenship. We keep talking about colonization as if it happened in the past. We cannot have settlers moving in from Europe, America and the rest of the world into this area and displacing it original inhabitance in the name of religious purity.
4
An appalling idea from Netanyahu, guaranteed to ensue any talk of a peace settlement kicked into the long grass which is probably what he wants anyway. Israel seems to ignore international law and do whatever it wants, maybe thinking that the US has it’s back. The region looks in a dangerous phase and this certainly won’t help.
2
Security concerns are one thing, annexing territory that the world agrees belongs to another nation is quite another. This is hubris of the highest order.
5
I don't pretend to know how to resolve the on-going Middle East crisis. But taking issues off the table by annexing the West Bank, or moving the American Embassy seem the exact opposite of what should be happening. Whether Israel likes it or not, at some point there will be a Palestinian state. That is the only way to achieve peace. And I say this as a Jewish person who supports the existence of the State of Israel.
4
I count myself a gentile friend of Israel. I have traveled to Israel and some of the West Bank, three times. I'm of two minds: I'd love to see an independent Palestine in the West Bank; but I also think the land of Israel - geographic and historical, I don't care about Biblical - extends from Mount Hermon to Eilat, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. I wish those would have been the 1948 borders and I support permanent annexation of the Golan Heights. I'm sorry Arafat - with the tacit backing of the leaders of the Arab world - walked away from Camp David and a deal that would have meant the Palestinians would now be approaching their 20th anniversary of independence. And I certainly don't trust Netanyahu. I guess what will happen is that the Palestinians of the West Bank will deal with life as Arabs in current Israel know it: safe, largely prosperous but culturally and politically second-class.
4
I agree, that with this move if it should happen we should boycott divest and sanction.Im sure even the British with Jeremy Corbyn if he would become Prime Minister they would also boycott divest and sanction.Though I’m sure the Israelis would ally themselves with China,Russia and India.This policy seems to have worked real well with Iran,North Korea and Syria to name a few.The Palestinians on the other hand could be forcibly removed and pushed into Jordan.When it would go before the UN the Israelis would then have two vetos instead of one.To somehow believe that Israel will allow itself to be swallowed up demographically is naive.The area is seriously Balkanized!What is needed are serious Peace plans that are rational.Academics,former diplomats from Israel,Palestinian Authority and the United States should look to get together as soon as possible .People such as Ehud Barak,Sari Nussibeh,Salam Fayyad and Dennis Ross to name a few.These men would work independently of their mutual governments to come up with a fair and rational plan.Once done they present it to the Israeli and Palestinian public and sell the plan!The only solution is a two state solution!Otherwise their will be a blood bath and too many lives on each side will be lost needlessly.People outside and inside should be building bridges not engaging in hate.Give Peace A Chance!
2
Netanyahu will do anything to get the vote. He is an autocrat as our President Trump who needs power in order to satisfy his own ego. He is devoid of feelings for OTHERS. I hope that he is dethroned. It's time to rule in a more democratic and humane fashion.
3
Trump support for annexation? Really? I suppose that's no surprise, he didn't object to Russia annexing Crimea. Might makes right as we Republicans all know.
2
Here's the other narrative, often censored but the truth to many Israelites: The land of Israel - in its entirety - belongs to the children of Israel, as promised in the Hebrew Bible.
Cold fact: Islam has been blessed to rule over 99% of the Middle East.
Dig that for a second. Over 99% of the Middle East. Israel is that tiny sliver on the globe you can't see.
Israelites are branded racists for believing that that less-than-one-percent should be a homeland for the children of Israel, who have endured countless genocide attempts for ages, when Islamic countries control the overwhelming majority of the area. Israelites cannot visit (let alone live in) most of them. This, as every single reliable indicator demonstrates that the great majority of Muslims in the land of Israel (Palestinian AND Israeli Arab) do not want to live in peace with an independent Israel, but want to destroy it in favor of yet another Islamic country.
Ironic. Were we talking a century or more ago about nations conquering nations and ills visited by the conquering on the conquered, we would be talking about most of the world's great powers of the 20th century (yes, including the United States). How convenient for all that today it is Israel that is singled out, despite its very legitimate claims to the land of Israel - including the Hebrew Bible that forms the basis of several other major religions.
How convenient no other country has to examine itself and what its own history has to say.
10
@levitical1948
The Hebrew Bible promises a lot of things. Good thing we dont listen to what stone age religions when making decisions.
5
Fortunately despite your viewpoint we do not live in biblical times. As a Jew I cannot disagree with you more. We live in a world where nation's have agreed to obey international law and respect the rights of all human beings. The idea of Netanyahu and Israel annexing anything is preposterous and illegal. This puts him in the same category with Putin and the Crimea and Trump and Greenland.
2
@levitical1948 “The land of Israel - in its entirety - belongs to the children of Israel, as promised in the Hebrew Bible” Please read Joshua 6: 1-27 As an Atheist fail to understand how any Rational person could believe in this petty Jewish God who instructs his followers with the directive to massacre a peaceful people who did no harm and “utterly destroy all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword”. In this day that would be termed Genocide. Is that what is needed today?
3
Peace is overrated.
I thought Jared was supposed to fix everything over there.
Sarcasm aside, I fear that such a move by Netanyahu is going to get very bloody.
6
Talk about greed, personified.
Yeah, Netanyahu could buy Greenland, too.
3
Perhaps Bibi can get Trump to buy the West Bank as another gift for him.
2
So would criticizing this move amount to anti-Semitism in the eyes of defenders of the government of Israel?
12
@NJW
The answer obviously is yes. Any such criticism will need to be accompanied by a list of Palestinian crimes in order to appear "fair."
2
I hope that Netanyahu goes ahead and illegally annexes the the West Bank.
First, it will underscores the fact that Israel is a criminal state that doesn't give a fig about international law and will further isolate it from liberal democracies.
Second, it will completely kill the two-state delusion, which was never going to happen anyway, and set the stage for a re-unified Palestine as a secular non-sectarian state with equal rights for everybody.
Third, it will encourage the Palestinians to transform their national struggle into a civil rights struggle. Palestinians demanding "one-person-one-vote" is a powerful message that will resonate with people of conscience all across the globe.
Fourth, it will drive a huge wedge between liberal Jewish-Americans and Israel. Already, young liberal Jews are changing the face of pro-Palestinian activism. Expect more of the same.
Fifth, it will force any Democratic candidate who wants to be POTUS to take a stand against Israel and its apartheid policies. No democratic candidate can support permanent apartheid and expect the support of the Democratic base.
Sixth, it will provide a huge boost for the BDS movement. Israel annexing the West Bank without giving the Palestinians the right to vote in Israeli elections is the text book definition of apartheid.
10
Why is this news?
Well, in one sense, the annexation of the West Bank is pretty much of a fai accomplis.
And in another sense, formally killing the peace process and moving forward on fascist vision of Israel as the "nation-state of the Jewish people" is just a continuation of the Revisionist Zionist plan for which the Revisionists were forced out of the Zionist Organization in 1935.
And in another sense, Israel is just following the dictates of its true leader, Donald Trump, who wants Israel to move toward his evangelical Christian supporters' vision of Armageddon.
Furthermore, the only reasons to be upset about this change in formal policy are desires for peace and concern about the human rights of Palestinians. For Jews, such concerns manifest disloyalty to the Israeli nation-state of the Jewish people which demands obeissance and obedience and a rejection of the new nationalist-clericalist Jewish values system. For Americans such concerns manifest disloyal and progressive -- possibly even socialist -- democratic values.
3
If bibi follows thru, Israel will forever live at war with the Palestinians within its midst. No peace ever.
7
I am eager to see how the Israelis people will vote this month!
1
Don't you just hate it when the formerly oppressed become the oppressors? Do you hear me Netanyahu? You are an oppressor and one of these days someone will declare "never again" and they will mean it about you.
Difficult to express how much I dislike you and your policies.
15
Ultimately, peace between Israeli Jews and Palestinians will be multi-leveled. First, the Israelis will win, starting with annexations like this...and several more. But that peace can never hold because it will be one sided. Only Israeli Jews will rejoice: those who believe it's god's will and those believe the world owes them special treatment either because of the Jewish Holocaust or because Jews were marginalized for two thousand years.
After tasting this victory, Israeli Jews will find it oppressive being KZ guards and return to their senses and give justice to the Palestinians.
Then, finally, Peace.
4
@Greig Olivier. Lol, the jihad.
1
@Greig Olivier lolololol
This is Netanyahu’s September Surprise, aimed at anti Arab voters.
14
Well at least he's honest about it, as brutish & uncaring as he is ..... How many more teenagers were killed at the Gaza fence last week for protesting by the way?
13
How many threw grenades?
3
@my2sons*** that's right 15 year olds are threat to Israel ... hundreds of children have been killed for protesting conditions in Gaza including a female medic and babies.. grenades .. wise up
3
Neh. is helping Israel dig its own demise with this, very similar to what happened in South Africa.
Unlike So. Africa, Israel started as a democracy trying to survive and did and then it figured if you can't beat extreme arabs join them.
Favorable kill ratios, ghettos, discrimination, arab land grabs etc. is what finally did in the white gov't in South Africa, loss of international support.
It will do the same for Israel if they continue on the same course.
19
This'll be done, it's promised, "in maximum coordination with Trump," according to the Guardian. It's open season: have an authoritarian-lover in the WH who needs merely flattery to give a blank check, and...well, it's The Trump Moment, especially for far-right governments.
Burn the Amazon! Take Kashmir! Make a couple million Muslims stateless in a Bangaldesh-adjacent Indian state! Take as much of the West Bank as you like! Woo-hoo!
Hey, American Jews (I'm one): How's that milky-honey thing workin' out for ya?
Choose either the best, most humanistic tradition of Judaism along with what's left of the Enlightenment...or choose an increasingly rightwing Israel. The cognitive dissonance is simply not going to allow any other choice.
Upset? Blame Israel, not me. I don't endlessly make excuses for those deemed "like me" in any fashion. You do what you like...but don't think coddling or excusing, let alone supporting, Israel's ongoing descent into, yes, near-fascism, is "supporting Israel."
It's coddling yourself, the role "Israel" plays in your precious identity. Just to be clear.
22
@Doug Tarnopol Well Doug, at least that lunatic Bolton is gone. Maybe Don will have someone who can think about the long term instead of tomorrow. For Ben and Don, their egos only extend to their next "win". It doesn't matter how many people lose for them to claim a win.
Too bad his son-in-law didn't resign with Bolton.
1
When President Carter published "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" 13 years ago he was attacked as an anti-semite.
Turns out he was a prescient truth teller.
111
@John Yes, except that no less than 34 SENIOR staff at the Carter Presidential Library QUIT with an open letter denouncing Jimmy Carter's overt antisemitism and anti-Israel remarks and writings and his unnatural funding by the Saudis. He is a con, like Trump.
5
@canoe
Jimmy Carter has done more for Israel than practically anyone.
6
Israel annexing the West Bank? Crimea river.
8
Has Israel learned nothing from WWII? Does Jewish settlement of the Golan and the West Bank justify the absorption of these territories like the “German” Sudetenland?
29
@CFB
Well it looks like they learned something doesn't it.
"Annex" is too gentle a euphemism.
A more precise headline would be: "Netanyahu is planning more thefts to buy himself more time."
10
Obviously Netanyahu isn't missing a trick in his race to the bottom with Trump and BoJo.
21
Israeli voters should be aware of what they are voting for:
The 4th Geneva Convention (Article 49) adopted by the UN Security Council 1993 and binding on all nations:
"The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."
46
Well, it appears that Jared couldn't work the deal, so now tRump is going to wash his hands and walk away. Now is the time for the World to stand up and tell Bibi to pound sand.
31
@cynholt If America just walks away from this total disaster, it would be an improvement. We can't salvage things. Israel is intent on going full theocracy here. We just need to cut our losses and stop sending Israel money or giving them cover in the UN. Let them go their own way if that's what they want. We shouldn't be supporting an imperialist theocracy. PS we should stop sending money to Egypt too.
3
As a Jewish American, I have become extremely saddened by Israel’s lurch to the right over the course of my adulthood into middle age. Prime Minister Netanyahu As promised security for as long as he has been Prime Minister. I askthe Israelis: how many wars have there been since he has been Prime Minister? I think we can count at least four. How many deaths? Your eyes are closed to reality. Israel would have been much safer with the Prime Minister who valued peace over protectionism. It is a sad state to watch Israel in 2019. It is the Israelis own fault, please dig yourself out from under the rock that you are now under. To all my fellow Americans, especially Jewish Americans, please open your eyes. This didn’t have to be this way.
21
To my alarmist American friends: you know how Trump is all bluster until he backs down, every time? Same thing with Bibi. He is too chicken to do anything radical, in any direction. He will not follow through on his talk, he’s too scared. And look at the silver lining here: this “surprise” just shows that Bibi is panicking ahead of the election. He smells trouble.
11
As they say “From your mouth to God’s ears”. Let’s see the end of Netanyahu as PM - it’s past time.
With John Bolton no longer at the White House this may slow down Netanyahu's aggressive actions on the West Bank. Bolton was too much an anti-Palestinian.
6
“We haven’t had such an opportunity since the Six Day War, and I doubt we’ll have another opportunity in the next 50 years,” Mr. Netanyahu said...
Substitute 'horrific invasion' for 'opportunity', and.you'll be on target.
15
If Israeli voters choose to keep this imperialist throwback, it will trigger horrific consequences. If this is the notion of a Jewish state, I, as a Jew, renounce it utterly.
31
Coward. He should annex the entire West Bank. Tell West Bank Palestinians that they can forget about an independent state on the West Bank. They had their chance. They didn't take it. That ship has sailed. The region's demographics have changed.
The West Bank needs to be incorporated into Israel-proper. West Bankers should get full Israeli citizenship and rights. Palestinians who lost land, money or businesses should get Just Compensation as under the legal Doctrine of Eminant Domain. Forget about "right of return". People get cash instead. You want something back, take your cash and buy it back if it's available.
West Bank Palestinians can get some autonomy as French Canadians do in Quebec. And that's it. Case closed.
With the huge influx of Jews since 1948 the region alloted to Jews is too small to support a viable state for Jews much less two states.
At the same time, the UN should declare Gaza an independent state whether Gaza wants it or not. Israel vacated Gaza years ago. Egypt doesn't want Gaza back. Independence is the only viable outcome.
There's your Palestinian State. Gaza!
3
@MIKEinNYC Sure, annex the West Bank and give the population equal rights with Israelis. Make them citizens. Let them vote. Problem solved.
Do you actually think that's going to happen? It would mean a huge shift in political power in Israel, away from Netanyahu's supporters. It would be like the US annexing all of Latin America and giving them all voting rights that swamp the votes of current US citizens and change the priorities of the whole nation.
Naw, it's going to be apartheid. The population of the West Bank will be second class citizens. How long do you think that situation can endure? It's a recipe for continual strife.
4
@MIKEinNYC
there should be one secular state shared by all who live there
3
@nerdrage
It would be more limited, like the US annexing Puerto Rico.
2
And when Netanyahu has reduced the Palestinian Territory to the barest nub, will he knock down all the structures and salt the earth so nothing will ever grow there as the Romans did in Carthage?
17
'Israeli leader Bibi Netanyahu is so powerful today, no one can stop him to do whatever he would like to do. When America and Trump is in his pocket, he can even annex not only the entire West Bank but the entire middle east including Saudi Arabia too. But he should think seriously; by doing so, he should not lose his Israel down the road.'
4
If Israel is foolish enough to do this, any country even remotely concerned about Palestine needs to embargo Israeli goods and services. A full and complete ban on imports and exports of anything and everything from Israel.
27
@Sam Including over three billion dollars in foreign aid that the U.S. just hands over to Israel, with no conditions, every year.
3
We need to look at which un-elected powerful Americans are propping up Netanyahu.
Bob Kraft comes to mind - just after his prostitution scandal came to light, Netanyahu gave him the "Genesis Prize" for his "commitment to Jewish values". Sheldon Adelson is another.
We can't do much directly about Netanyahu, but we can try to hold these charlatans to account. Don't watch football and don't gamble. Neither are good for you anyway.
16
More proof that Netanyahu does not want peace in the middle East.
15
Sheldon Adelson is the de facto national security advisor for the Middle East. He has Trump in his pocket. Trump enables Bibi. Sheldon writes another check.
22
As Mr. Netanyahu was at an election event in the southern coastal city of Ashdod, Iron Dome took down a rocket shot at Ashdod from Gaza.
Ashdod is 1948 Israel, not 1967. Hamas was clearly aware of the campaign visit.
Like Mr. Netanyahu or not, the Palestinians just tried to assassinate him.
And one wonders why the peace plans turn to dust and why the right in Israel will win.
Just a reminder, the defense policy of Blue and White is no different than that of Likkud. Israel willl not leave the Jordan Valley.
10
Israel, PLEASE do not reelect Netanyahu. Your enemies will always oppose you, but if Netanyahu goes ahead, you will find many of your friends unable to support you too.
17
How would this be any different than Putin making his land grab for Crimea and Ukraine. If Netanyahu follows through on this, there should be sanctions again Israel. Any the chances of that with this administration, zero to none !!
17
If elected, he certainly will bring "peace in our time" to Middle East, like Chamberlain brought to Europe in 1938.
5
Doubtless the right-wing protestants in the U.S. are chomping at the bit as they dream of the rapture and Armageddon come at last.
21
There are now 400,00 settlers in the West Bank and in 25 years there will be a million settlers in the West Bank.If Israel annexes the West bank Israel goes from being a Jewish state to being a Moslem- Jewish state.Nearly all Israelis do not like this thought but this is the direction the country is heading.
5
Great idea, Netanyahu!
But be sure to give all residents of the West Bank full and equal citizenship in the Israeli state. Better change the name of the State of Israel to the Abrahamic Republic!
At last, an equitable solution to the intractable Israeli/Palestinian "problem", and the end of the "two-state" nonsense!
One state of Palestinians and Jews living together in tolerance and respect, just like the other civilized nations of the world.
Way to go, Netanyahu!
12
Netanyau is fighting for his political survival in the face of three criminal charges against him. Like a drowning man , he will grab even at a straw not to loose his long over due lead of a fascist party and a right-wing government bent on annexation of the West Bank . This "straw" he hopes will be votes to give him majority in next week's general elections . Netanyau will stop at nothing to loosen the rope around his neck when he faces the law - and that includes deranging the authority of Israel's Supreme Court and at the expense of weakening and eventually subjugating Israel's democracy to his whim.
Mr. Netanyau has absolutely no moral or legal right to grab a square meter of the West Bank , even when he is flagrantly encouraged by the American ambassador .
Let us hope next week will bring finally sense to his potentional voters .This for the safety of my grandchildren serving in the Israeli Army .
12
Israel must have sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. Ceding the international border to the Palestinians was never going to happen. They could invite an invasion force right into Jerusalem.
2
like Trump, Netanyahu is a bully. there used to be a time where bullies were treated as same. is this apathy or ambivalence?
6
Lets get rational , another dysfunctional terrorist state right on Israel’s doorstep is off the table a long time ego . This fact needs no explanation , Arab mentality and behavior is a clear proof to it . Now is the right time to establish clear borders and give Arabs a better and free life . They will not have a state , and deep down they don’t even want one beside talking about it to harass Israel . Any previous offers of a state were categorically refused by them following with terror that cost thousands of innocent lives Jewish and Arabs . They might be part of Jordan , Egypt ...heavily subsidized by wealthy nations including Israel . But they will never be able to terrorize Israel again . Take it or leave it .
8
@Tibor Weiss Israel survives on US aid. We should have a say based on Amercian Interest and not tribal allegiance
4
@Tibor Weiss
So will Israel forcibly remove the Palestinians to other Arab states or will it be via some sort of genocide? I can't imagine that the Palestinians will voluntarily leave - and the neighboring Arab nations need to keep the "Israel problem" going as a distraction from their own problems - so aren't likely to open their doors anytime soon. This seems to be a desperate election ploy that will have long-term, ramifications for the region.
3
@Tibor Weiss "deep down they don’t even want one " who decided this? You? The land stealing Jews of the Middle East. Boycott Israel!
3
I believe he is setting light to a fuse that will blow up in Israel's face. Theft is theft and whatever world support and US support of the Israel state will be diminished. My level of respect for the Israelis will be proportionately diminished.
8
Ironic, ain't it?
Who invented the word "Ghetto", again?
13
It's not rocket science to figure this on out....Trump will support Netanyahu's scheme to win his election... as it would in turn secure the Jewish votes in 2020.
@Pauline Hartwig Except that about 75% or more of American Jews despise Trump and will never vote for him.
This is aimed at his evangelical base who want Israel to help usher in the Apocolypse.
3
@Pauline Hartwig
It certainly would not secure my Jewish vote for either Trump or Netanyahu.
2
The West Bank has already been annexed for all practical purposes. Israel controls not only the land but every aspect of Palestinian life, all for its own benefit. The question that remains is whether the world will demand that Palestinians have equal rights or whether they will be condemned to living in this apartheid state in perpetuity? Fact is, "perpetuity" won't be long. Israeli ethnic cleansing will only accelerate.
6
Another land grab by Israel. We should stop funding these thieves entirely. Netanyahu and Trump are two grifters that need to be deposed.
20
Netanyahu, Modi, Putin, and Trump: 21st Century leaders applying 19th Century thinking to 20th Century problems.
15
@pjweston But they are doing it with the support of their own people - nationalism is on the rise. Of course nothing bad ever happens with nationalistic fervor... The coming years are looking awful dark.
3
This is not about the modern state of Israel that needs peace, this is about the biblical Judaea (Yehudaḥ) and the promised land for the chosen people.
1
This Zionist says, please, please don't do this. It is just plain wrong.
7
Shame on him! Shame on Israel.
8
Hey Benji
Have you thought about the impact on the BDS movement and the problem of anti-semitism?
7
And then Trump will annex Greenland..
9
Bibi is only a manifestation of the people of Israel’s character, as Trump is of ours. When he’s finally forced from office (and maybe into prison for corruption) don’t let his replacement lull you into the deception that Israel is anything other than a malevolent colonial apartheid state.
7
They vote for him, they will deserve whatever is coming their way. He is a maniac dragging his country to a place of no return. Shame on him and shame on the US for supporting him with our tax dollars.
10
Land grab and poking Palestinians in the eye are the only things Bibi has in his playbook. Beat Netanyahu!
9
This rightwing colation party is no better than any other racist organization. Once Netanyahu's done there will not be any Palestinian state, let alone Palestinian land. I am tired of this racist faction crying our anti-Semitism for any criticism of their outrageous behavior. Being part Jewish, I stand with every other nation and Jew who want a fair arrangement with Palestinians and Palestine(as if this location was just invented).
17
Tragically for the Palestinians, their leadership -- even after 70 plus years -- has failed to learn the very first lesson of achievement and survival in their ongoing war with Israel, which is … when you set fires, hurl stones, stab innocents, dig tunnels, shoot rockets, threaten to annihilate Jews and spread vicious anti-Semitic propaganda around the world about them, they will respond accordingly.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-soldier-is-stabbed-to-death-prompting-manhunt-11565271046
6
@A. Stanton
Soldiers die all the time. Thats why they are soldiers.
2
It will be the end of Israel. Annex and provide the people with the vote, and Israel will cease to be a Jewish State. Annex and don't give the people the vote, and Israel ceases to be a democracy and becomes an Apartheid State. He will destroy the country in order to win an election.
14
@Jim
Netanahu is behaving ust like Trump and the current Republican Party in this country. I've never seen so many politicians since Trump began his campaign employ the nationalist tactics of Adoph Hitler, and even exceed them in some instances, like hugging the American flag, while billing U.S. citizens for unnecessary trips to his resorts for him and his family to play and do other things that benefit him, personally. Rather than complaining about his poll numbers and blaming everyone but himself, he should be amazed his approval ratings are as high as 39%. I suppose the Russian military intelligence has made a priority of inflating Tump's standing in the polls.
1
Bibi, you're right; in 14 months the U.S. will not be in blind allegiance to you.
Along with the coward in chief, Kushner, your personal coward will not be running things; they'll be running scared.
Better do it now.
7
Unfortunately the Jewish community around the world gets tainted by the actions of this deeply corrupt man.
17
The UN should do something about Israel stealing Palestinian land. Looks just like Russia taking part of Ukraine.
10
Let’s hope Netanyahu and Trump lose!
9
Since Arafat made the fateful decision to refuse to abandon the Right of Return when President Clinton was making the last push in office, the Palestinians have been on a downward glide. Frankly, I don't see any other alternative but to completely ignore Palestinian wishes and for Israel to enact the peace scenario they choose unilaterally. Over time the Israel infrastructure will become the status quo and then the permanent reality.
The alternative of letting other voices derail any permanent solution in favor of a more fair (from the Palestinian POV) but unrealistic scenario just prolongs a conflict that Arab third-parties are using to distract from their own internal problems.
Besides, Netanyahu will be rewarded politically for this tactic, because the Israel population has been radicalized by decades of Arab terrorism and existential threats.
5
Israel is and has been the South Africa.
With second and third class citizens including many African Jews.
The long term impacts will be detrimental to the security and safety of Israel with a large enslaved population of Palestinians, 60% Muslim, 40% Christian.
15
Netanyahu is a danger to Palestinians, to the region as a whole, and to Israel itself. He is inviting trouble, thinking that his nukes will protect him and his country.
11
Unfortunately, there are many evil narcissistic leaders on the world stage today, bent on fomenting discord, pathological nationalism, and hate. Netanyahu certainly is one of them. In fact, he’s right up there as a major contender. This world would be a better place without him in it.
12
@jm
Another one of the same category is India’s Modi having same outlook
1
Were I an Israeli, I would want this to happen. I mean, I remember the Intifada and school girls being blown up in pizza shops. So, as an American, I understand it.
However, as soon as this happens, Israel becomes a colonial state automatically. There are no two ways about tha. Large numbers of Arabs will be subject to direct Israeli rule. They will not have the right to vote. They will be a conquered people within the state.
This will not be good.
The next logical move for Israel is to expel the Arabs and take tall the land for Israelis. Let us not delude ourselves. That is going to happen.
In short, understandable as annexation may be, in the long run it will become very difficult to support Israel.
On the other hand, Israel has nukes, missiles and subs, so why should they care? I mean, nobody helped the Jews in 1941 and I am pretty certain that they remember that.
1
An annexation of the West Bank, the annexation of Crimea: both the work of cruel despots, desperately clinging to any crudely populist moves that might help temporarily prop up their violent, oppressive regime. Witness how that's working out lately for Putin in the long run, what with his power via the Moscow City Council - just last Sunday - essentially halved.
Oh, I almost forgot: cue the commenters who will now reductively misconstrue the comparison as "anti-Semitic." To which I say: wake up and get over yourself. Both Palestinians and Crimeans (and Hong Kongers, and the Rohingya, ad nauseam) deserve to live free from flagrant, persistent human rights violations. Stop playing The Oppression Olympics- no persecuted group is "special."
16
No more American government aid to the Netanyahu government. No more, ever!
13
Each year Jews, whatever their ranges of background and other characteristics, where they live, their religious Identification and religiosity are gifted with a “Unique one off opportunity “ on Yom Kippur, after some or much self assessment, to ask those whom they have hurt in some way, by intent or not, by word and/or deed, to be forgiven. An opportunity to make amends. Not the traditional “ I apologize, “ which leaves the “power” with the violator. “ I ask YOU to
forgive me;” IF, how and when being left to the injured and violated person. Not by G’d. But by a a fellow human being. Family member. Friend. Neighbor. Community member. Someone at school. At work. A stranger. In the range of environments in which each of US, in our toxic WE-THEY enabled violating cultures and life spaces, cope, adapt and function. Daily. In a range of roles. An opportunity to transmute ummenschlichkeit to necessary Menschlich interchanges. Enabling much need mutual respect. Mutual trust. Mutual caring. Mutual help, if and when needed. Bibi’s ongoing ummenschlich plans and actions are not about land and national security. Not about the wellbeing of a conflicted nation of diverse peoples and ideologies. Not about equitable PEACE. It is about protecting himself and other family members from being accountable for actual adjudicate-able CRIMES. It is about avoiding a prison sentence. It is about being part of turning Hertzl’s Dream into a dangerous nightmare! Unrepentant on Yom Kippur? Will HE...
7
@S.Einstein
Likes of him does not give importance to such important days or practices
2
Time for the Palestinian leadership to visit Window Rock, Arizona and learn how the Navajo Nation has moved forward.
2
Democrats should be outspoken opposing any such annexation. The Democratic base should find this unacceptable. The goal should be for Israel to remain within the 1967 borders as much as possible and for the Palestinians to establish a state. Annexation would lead to apartheid as is it unrealistic to believe that the Israelis would allow all Arabs within the borders of Israel to vote after annexation. Annexation would guarantee further unending strife in the Middle East. It is not a solution to anything, it is a provocation. The next step would probably be ethnic cleansing. This proposed move should be vigorously opposed by the US.
11
Wasn’t the annexation of Kuwait the reason Bush 41 was able to build an international coalition to repel Saddam’s demented dreams of regional domination?
9
Memo to Bibi: Americans will repudiate this, without remorse. We are not behind you on this. Trump may be, but not Americans: do not conflate categories. If you do, it's on you.
20
So happy that Trump put Kushner in charge of the middle east "solution".
What Bibi wants is the Palestinians to demonstrate en mass to secure his re-election.
Let's hope his plan fails.
10
And the Congress just passed resolutions declaring the BDS protest movement antisemitic. So how is the common man supposed to vent their fury at this power and land-grabbing action? Write letters to Rabbis, talk to friends, comment in the NYT? How would they suggest we show disapproval of this unhelpful, unpeaceful and unfair usurping of another's land. You can't act this unilaterally in the Middle East without hurting neighbors, reputations and even religions. As Prime Minister Netanyahu puts another nail in Israel's coffin he continues to do so with a hammer's instinct.
20
politics, legalities, etc. aside, this would be like kicking the proverbial hornets' nest.
7
So, being naive about annexations of other country's territory, what is the difference between the West Bank, Ukraine, and Crimea... or Putin and Bibi?
7
With reelection being more important than the cost, risk and probable sacrifice of the citizens he is supposed to protect, Netanyahu is taking the whole play book from the White House. With such a congruent, if not identical, philosophy, Trump is probably tempted to just annex Israel, after supporting Israel in the annexation of the West Bank. I know Trump’s sycophantic Senate and slavish Supreme Court would support whatever he dreams up.
10
no place to hide for the voters.
the world is watching.
6
I find it very interesting that the Palestinians are now described as the "indigenous" people of Palestine. May I remind everybody that the Israeli tribes have been around Judea and Samaria - now known as the West Bank - for over 5,000 years. And, while there was a State of Israel for centuries until it was destroyed by the Roman empire in 70 AD, there has NEVER been a state of Palestine. Palestine was only a geographic region of the Ottoman empire and later a British Protectorate under the League of Nations. So, while all progressive wring their collective hands and shouts their dismay over the potential actions of Netanyahu, they should spend a few minutes reading history. And, let's not forget that for many Palestinians the goal is still to push all the Jews in the sea. It did not work in 1948 and 1967 and Israel is not going to give them another chance.
5
@giorgio sorani
The Arabs are indigenous. They didnt spend the last 1000 years in Poland and Russia.
Whether or not there was a Palestinian state is irrelevant. The people exist now. They deserve either their own country or equal rights in Israel. Israelis have to choose.
7
@giorgio sorani May I remind you, the Jewish tribes were only one of many people who inhabited the current state of Israel in ancient times. The present day Palestinians are at least in part descended from these people, including the ancient Jews. In part they are also descended from the many groups who came into the area since the fall of the kingdom of Israel 2000 years ago. That’s history.
7
@giorgio sorani
Maybe you should get a little better historical education; try reading Schlomo Sand's book, The Invention of the Land of Israel.
4
Aside from paying lip service to a future Palestinian state, previous American and Israeli administrations have worked to preserve the status quo of Palestinian subordination and Israeli continued land theft through settlement expansion. The West Bank has been de facto annexed by Israel a long time ago. Palestinians will continue to live under Apartheid conditions as long as Israelis have no outside pressure to return any stolen land. This situation will last a few more decades until American public opinion shifts to the point that it becomes untenable for an American politician to openly support Apartheid, after which the US will drop its financial aid to Israel and Israel will be forced to give due citizenship to the Palestinian population under its control. Of course, in the meantime, there will be many Palestinian uprisings and Israeli repressions through indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force. Another scenario is the gradual but continuous ethnic cleansing of the West Bank by Israel until Palestinians become much smaller in number and therefore seen as a non-factor in Israel.
11
The Trump/Netanyahu alliance is one of two aging megalomaniacs who have no vision or regard for 21st C Middle Eastern peace. They are war mongers, falling into a pit of their own bravado and pseudo superiority. Their disregard for personal fiscal honesty is likewise evidenced in their disregard for social mores and UNIVERSAL human rights. They are men who do not have a larger vision. They know that, and do not care.
5
If Netanyahu wins this election and the West Bank is annexed, the possibility of a separate Palestinian state is likely doomed.
Without a two-state solution, Israel is going to have to practice apartheid in order to keep the Jewish faith in power. This may work for awhile, but in the long run it is likely doomed to failure (it didn't work in South Africa) - Arabs at some point will have to be given the right to vote. And since the Arabs living in Israel outnumber the Jews, Israel will then become essentially an Arab state.
For those of the Jewish faith that wish to see Israel remain a Jewish state it is unfortunate that not enough of them seem to realize this.
14
Why the shock? About 20 minutes after the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, a reporter in New York asked Israeli Ambassador to the UN Abba Eban what Israel would be prepared to trade for East Jerusalem. The diplomat of diplomats answered "Jerusalem is not negotiable". It might have been possible to withdraw from the West Bank settlements, but not when Prime Minister Abbas of the Palestinian Authority stands in the street shouting "grab a knife! steal a car! kill a Jew!" and is nowhere near being able to unify with Hamas, which will not tolerate any state of Israel anywhere. So this map describes the reality: Jerusalem and its environs will remain part of Israel. Jewish settlements will continue to be guarded on the West Bank, because Israel cannot tolerate yet another border armed with Iranian missles threatening its existence. And led by a degenerate old man who has already rejected the idea of Israeli security on the ground, although right now, that security is helping him and his government stay alive in the face of Hamas threats. This is what the new Middle East is going to look like; let's move on to other problems. Like 75 million desperate people on the move world wide, according to the UN; having yet another Islamic state on the planet is not going to do anything for them. And climate change is going to make it all much, much worse.
3
What is done today - easily - can be undone tomorrow with just as much ease. That's what history records, and that's precisely what we refuse to learn or listen.
With grievance and adrenalin piled up over the years, that's what another angry Nathanyahu on the other side would do. And he would be just as hard to check or resist as the wayward, reckless leader of today.
1
Netanyahu pledges to annex much of the West Bank, and the United States has agreed to act as Co-signer.
3
If Bibi is reelected, Israel should forget getting any kind of bi-partisan support (ie, too many dollars) from USA.
Bibi is severely dividing Republicans and Democrats, once again.
2
...and the violence in the middle east will continue for the rest of our lifetimes, based on the oppressive treatment of the Palestinians.
12
@MC
As long as Americans are silent spectators to the unholy support of their government to Israel’s decades of killing, torturing, usurping land and illegal settlements.
Nowhere in history you will find people subjected to such brutality, indiscriminate bombing of civilians including young children, for more than 70 years. Wake up to your conscience Americans, Israel is able to do injustice because of your country’s blind support
3
Netanyahu has served his primary purpose — to keep Israelis safe from terrorism. And he has mostly succeeded, especially when compared to the era of suicide bombings in civilian areas.
BUT....Israel can be better led by new political leaders, like Benny Gantz.
This announcement by Bibi is just political desperation.
4
If you are an Israeli citizen and you saw what happened in Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal, would you be in favor of withdrawing from the West Bank? Doubtful. One state is the only viable solution for Israeli security though what happens to the Palestinians living in the expanded state of Israel remains the most vexing of questions. If they become Israeli citizens Israel will no longer be a Jewish state by the simple fact that non-Jews will be the majority. The alternatives to Israeli citizenship for the Palestinians are apartheid or expulsion from the West Bank. Of these expulsion might be the more appealing of two bad options. Then there is is the question of what state will take millions of Palestinians expelled from Israel? I have yet to see an Israeli game plan on what happens post annexation of the West Bank. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
1
With this move there will be no two state solution in the horizon. What seems to be coming , without Israelis having a clue , is Edward Saids BI-NATIONAL STATE.
3
In 1922 the League of Nations (predecessor to UN) enacted the “Mandate for Palestine” which mandated Britain to create a homeland for the Jews, which at the time included what is now Israel, West Bank and Jordan. About a year later the Mandate was amended to exclude about two-thirds so that Britain can give that to the Hashemite Kingdom, which is now Jordan. The amendment stated that the Jews may settle in the remainder, which is west of the Jordan River - now all of Israel and the West Bank.
Then in 1947, Britain walked away from the Mandate, the UN was formed and decided on a partition plan, which the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected. Note both Jews and Arabs living in Palestine back then were called Palestinians.
Then came all the wars, resolutions, peace agreements and intifadas. And it all led to the mess their still in.
Frankly if Britain had gotten it right in 1947-48, this would have been solved a lot sooner.
But my point in all this is that the issues are complicated, and anyone pointing to Israel as the great villain here does not know the real history. A good source for anyone seriously interested is “Righteous Victims” by Benny Morris.
8
@Steven Roth Very tiresome hasbara and completely inaccurate. Jordan, then Transjordan, was promised to the Hashemites in 1915, pre-Balfour and excluded from the "Jewish homeland" scheme in two separate treaties. It was autonomous during the mandate period, had its own government by 1924 and was an independent nation by 1946, two years before there even was an Israel. Jordan was NEVER in play for Zionist ambitions.
Zionists were not at the table when the world powers divided the former Ottoman Empire. They were not players, they were supplicants. No document of the British, the League of Nations or the UN "gave" a single inch of territory to the Zionists. Their settlement was to be "IN" Palestine, not supplanting it, as Churchill made very plain.
The Balfour Declaration did not "mandate" Britain to create a homeland for the Jews, lol. Read the text -- it was a "declaration of sympathy" with the the idea, rather bold since Britain did not own ANY of the land in question. Under the Mandate, Jews were prohibited from settling in Arab-dense areas of Palestine and by the 1920s owned just 3% of the land. By 1948, pre-independence, Jews owned just 6% land in Palestine.
2
the Jordan Valley is what is called Area "C" it banks up on the river--it is scarcely populated save for flora (vegetable) growth on both sides. Jordan is fearful of the Palestinians, and is that why we don't hear from the King of Jordan? I do not know what to make of this, but to see the area as I have with UN forces present--I just wonder how much we understand the Israeli/Palestinian problems?
What’s Jared doing about it? Or is this move a core tenet of his “peace plan”?
1
That would be a serious violation of the IV Geneva Convention of 1949, otherwise known as war crime.
11
For those readers unfamiliar with Israeli politics, this promise is not taken too seriously there.
Yes, there will be more annexation of captured historic Jewish lands but only in areas where Arabs are not in the majority.
Eventually, large swaths of such territory will become Israel. However, to avoid adding more Arabs to Israel, enemies of the Jewish state, the annexation will be done slowly and only after sufficient Jewish settlement has already been established.
Of course, Israel will be condemned for liberating lands stolen by the enemy. However, this is Biblical Israel and stretches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river. Eventually, those inhabitants disloyal to Israel will be given the means to leave and settle elsewhere, in places with total Arab dominion. Then they will no longer be a menace to a Zionist homeland.
If you think I am joking, check back in ten years.
3
@simon sez
I am shocked. This comment sounds like the discussions of in German in the 1930's when the Nazi party had decided to "rid Germany" of its internal enemies but hadn't yet decided exactly how to do it. There really is such a thing as international human rights law for a reason.
4
I an amazed that Israel still has a problem understanding why a lot of the world doesn't agree with them. Annexing someone else's land might be a start. Russia and Crimea anyone? Israels reasons are the same as Russia's- national security
4
Brilliant plan. Netanyahu would certainly correct a lot of his Palestinian issues with this maneuver.
3
After years in office with increasing dictatorial powers and shameless devotion to power at all costs, Netanyahu is so thoroughly corrupt he’s the poster child for the adage “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
The tragedy of megalomaniacs like Bibi and Trump is their selfish cores mean everything is done for their own short term advantage, regardless of long term impacts on others.
Israel might find allies among brutal authoritarian regimes, American Evangelicals hoping for the end of the world, and a minority of right wing Jews, but there is no thriving future for Israel within a context of endless war and expanding military control of a disenfranchised people.
Israel is still a wonderful place that dazzles with achievements and creativity, but its right wing ethnic-religious nationalists whom Netanyahu courts are corroding social cohesion and setting the stage for dark days ahead.
6
Bibi's opportunity is Trump who has been bought and paid for by Sheldon Adelson and Putin. What will he do if they disagree? If Israel annexes most of the West Bank it forecloses a 2 state solution and ends even the dreams of a 2 state solution. I fear the US and Israel will pay for that foreclosure with much blood and treasure in the years to come.
Israel took another people's land to form itself and has horribly mistreated the native people ever since. Now Netanyahu wants to eliminate any chance of a one or two-state solution with the Palestinian people.
How will this make Israel more secure?!
You gain security through mutual trust and respect between foes. You gain security by showing the intention of wanting to find a peaceful solution to a problem that has existed forever.
You gain security and respect by working out differences and giving the new generation a reason to respect you, not a reason to hate you! Annex more land and they will hate you for that much longer and that much stronger.
This is a poorly thought out and short term approach, and the same approach that has lead to wars throughout human history.
Please, Netanyahu, think about your people, the Israeli people. Think about your people, the Palestinian people. Think about humankind.
There is a reason most of the world dislikes what you are doing.
I say this as an American Israeli, a Jew with family and friends in Israel, and as a human being.
14
@Dr. Cacao Thank you for your insight. I always wondered why Netanyahu and the like would want to treat the Palestinians in the same manner that Jewish people have been treated for so long. I would have thought that there would be more empathy towards fellow human beings suffering and being mistreated simply because of their ethnicity.
3
The ongoing colonization of palestine continues. Without a two-state solution no peace is possible. Incompetent interventions by the Trump clan exemplify the will to rob palestinians of their historical rights. Israel is asking for neverending conflict and produces worldwide terrorism.
2
The one state solution edges ever closer.
2
As long as Israel is a far-right ethnostate 'for the Jewish people', I will not support them. We should support the human rights of the Palestinian people of the West Bank. Like their right to have a voice in a government that controls their lives.
15
So is Netanyahu going to give the Palestinians full citizenship now? If he wants one greater Israel open to all, that has to happen. If it doesn't, then this is South Africa 2.0.
If he doesn't, then some future leader will be faced with the same problem. Annexation will then just cause more problems down the road.
Maybe he wants to gentrify it and sell it off to his buddies the Saudis? Trump may have already planned to set up some golf courses that were built with other people's money that put his name on the clubhouse door. Follow the money on this one.
12
@Bruce Rozenblit
'golf courses' ....
you mean the biggest sand trap in the world ? - LOL
1
Aside from looking increasingly desperate to win the election at ANY cost -- Mr. Netanyahu is all but guaranteeing an unsteady future for Israel with his plans annex much of the West Bank.
In fact, that move would give his nation just the opposite of the "secure permanent borders" he's promising, because just like his inability to address the Settlements encroaching on Palestinian lands, there are no boundaries that he respects.
The two-state solution is dead, but at this rate so is any hope of peace.
4
Leave it to Hamas to boost support for Netanyahu's plan to annex much of the West Bank by indiscriminately shooting rockets at the city of Ashdod where Netanyahu was speaking at an election rally this evening in Israel. Israel would be crazy to depend on the good will of the government of a future Palestinian state for its security. If I were a Palestinian I would say that an encircled Palestinian state is better than none at all, but that's just me. If Palestinians insist on holding out for an un-encircled state I guess they can wait another 70 years.
4
And yet, through illegal settlements, the informal annexation of the West Bank has been going on in plain site for decades, with barely a murmur of opposition from the West. At least this announcement removes the thin veil behind which Israel's apologists have for too long hidden - that Palestinians alone have been the bad actors and Greater Israel never the ultimate goal.
2
At least he has the cornered courage of a desperate man enough to start being somewhat honest. What he actually wants is described in Genesis 15:18, where God says "Unto thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Thus, from the Nile to the portion of Syria that includes Damascus. And in verses 19-21 he includes by tribal areas the entire Western half of the Fertile Crescent.
There are 34 million mostly Arabic people who might have something to say about that these days, plus 100 MM in Egypt. For Israel to stay the course that Netanyahu suggests is to outright reject the whole idea of peace in the region.
2
I dont remember this being a part of the Kushner "peace plan." Where does that stand?
2
...and who could ever have suspected that Pelosi's decision to push an anti-BDS bill through the House would have any consequences at all?
Trump's support for this move was a given from the moment he took office. The responsibility for enabling this move to happen at this time lies with Pelosi and the Dem's Likud/AIPAC caucus, who in their desperate need to kneecap AOC and the Squad, ignored the dangers of signalling Netanyahu that he could get away with anything.
3
The west bank Arabs can't see it now, but in the long run their lives will be enhanced far more than they are at present.
Being a part of Greater Israel will offer the W.B. Arabs the ability to grow and prosper just as their brethren, the Arab Israelis have done.
3
@Hal
Israel is not going to seize the people, just the land. The people will be quietly moved out as a security threat and the land converted to settlements. In a few years there will be no further mention of Arab land. That has always been the Israeli playbook, and so far it has worked a treat.
3
One state solution. I have traveled to Israel. With current population of about 20% Arab, voting rights for Men AND Women, Arabs in Knesset. Personally, I think the Palestinians would be much better off if they were Israeli citizens. Vs their extremely ineffective leadership. Jordan has about the same amount of Palestinians, yet there is no outcry to give them their own country.
Now what to do about Gaza. Maybe Egypt would take it and kick out Hamas?
2
Has it occurred to anyone that Israeli values aren't the same as American values? Israelis value safety and security against terrorist attacks above all. Bibi Netanyahu isn't perfect but Israeli voters feel a sense of security with him as Prime Minister. That's why Netanyahu is now the longest serving Prime Minister in Israel's history.
3
@sharon5101
All the more reason to cut Israel loose. They dont share our values. They share middle eastern values.
9
@Joe--why does everyone persist in believing this absurd myth that Israel and America have to be joined at the hip? The Israelis have their own priorities and security from terrorist attacks is at the top of their list. So what if they don't share our values? Exactly what are our values?
78
@sharon5101
We shouldnt be joined at the hip. We shouldnt be deploying our veto for them relentlessly. We shouldnt be donating billions to them. They have their land feud that has nothing to do with us.
No doubt many Americans will disagree what our values are, but a ethno religious land war in Asia surely has nothing to do with us.
2
When Putin annexed Crimea and messed with the Ukraine we slapped him with sanctions.
When Bibi does it, we say "go ahead, in fact here's the money to buy the weapons to do it"
2
Can someone please explain to me why this is okay? Even Russia has suffered sanctions for illegally annexing adjacent land.
2
This will be the beginning of the end for Israel. If Israel annexes the West Bank, the Palestinian residents will become second class citizens and Israel will become an apartheid state. Eventually, the Arabs will have to become full citizens and given the right to vote. They will eventually overtake the Jews in population. We will lose our beloved Jewish state.
7
If a nuke went off in Israel, at this point I'd have to say they might have it coming.
12
Let the boycotts begin. Sorry Bibi stealing the West bank is antisemetic. Bibi when will you set the Israeli cassock of the Palestinians rounded up in the Arab ghettos.Sorry they don;t have the luxury of emigrating to America. Trump will ban them.
Israel doesn't; give a fig about world opinions, why the F should the world give a fig about Israel. Let the deal with the consequences of their own Hubris. Israel in not an American Ally and increasingly showing it is nit really a friend The Christian fundamentalist influence in Washington stops with Trump defeat in 2020 then what is left. If Israel can afford to steal land it doesn't obviously need the 4 billion a year the US gives them.
16
Hmm occupied territory. Hmmm who attacked who?
Did Israel attack the Arabs and “seize this land” as the NYT so causally implies or did the Arabs attack Israel hoping to kill every Jew and “drive them into the sea .”
Of course the Arabs were the aggressors, of course the Arabs were soundly defeated, and of course Israel maintains control over a much needed “safety zone “- for the Arabs own good.
8
@William Rodham
Both Palestinians and ethnic Jews are Semitic peoples. They are both "Arabs".
2
@William Rodham Over 500 of 1000 villages were burned down by Isreali Terrorists Irgun and others in 1948, creating 3-4M refugees is the history that every agrees to..
Wish both people can live in peace but that won't happen as long as Isreali continues to take more and more land and bulldoze
homes of Palestinians
3
He'll get no pushback from Our President, who thinks Jordan Valley is a porn star he once, er, grabbed.
18
What's with Netanyahu and the map? Is Hurricane Dorion threatening Israel?
6
Netanyahu is a Zionist firebrand, who should be brought before the World Court of Human Rights in the Hague, for his repeated crimes against humanity. Netanyahu is a total international disgrace. Hopefully, the Jewish people will reject him and his wretched supporters. Judaism is far better than Netanyahu, and Israel deserves far better leadership!
9
Stealing land + generating thoughtful criticism= bogus cynical antisemitic wolfcrying.
1
Avi Berkowitz to the rescue?
This moron and war criminal, aided and abetted by the cowardly draft dodger Trump, is ensuring conflict in the region for generations to come.......................
8
It sounds like the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 by the Nazi’s. And yes, Netanyahu can be considered as an Israeli (not Jewish!) fascist.
14
If Israel returns Netanyahu to power and he moves ahead with this plan, it will be the eventual end of Israel.
As long as Israel could claim, implausibly or not, that it was maintaining the status quo because it didn't have Palestinian partners to strike a peace deal with, it could retain enough international support to survive and even thrive.
Changing those borders, though, will drive a strike through the heart of the country's claim to any interest in peace. That, in turn, will secure its status as an international pariah, something it can't withstand forever.
36
Without US support or, at least tolerance, Israel have been back at the 1967 borders a long, long time ago and at least one cause of strife in the Middle East would have been resolved.
How soon we forget the prophetic words of George Washington's Farewell Address, warning the US against entangling alliances.
18
Netanyahu is making any two state solution impossible. He thinks that the Palestinian Arabs will just pack up a leave, now. What he's actually done is assure that the protracted low intensity war between Israelis and Palestinians will be perpetual. Not only that, but Israel will never be a secure liberal democratic Jewish state, but a modern version of ancient Sparta, at best, but not a liberal state.
13
We should withdraw all support for Israel and implement sanctions. The colonization is against international law, and is even less justifiable than Russia's annexation of Crimea.
65
It’s about time. A State that would become Palestine with pretty much all of the West Bank has been on the table for a long, long time and repeatedly rejected. I don’t know what these Arabs were thinking. They lost the wars and they had no cards to play, other than terrorism (which in fairness they habe proven to be very good at). Some very good offers were made and they rejected them all. Too bad. An offer doesn’t stay open forever.
Enough is enough. It is time to move past this failure of a “peace process.” Israel has no need to be further mired in this mess. The arabs can become citizens or residents or whatever or just leave.
11
“These Arabs”? Contemptuous much? Any state that the Israeli government would allow to come into being Isn’t “pretty much all of the West Bank” territory wise, resources wise, water wise, let alone air rights and security. Further, the Likud Party charter explicitly forbids the creation of any Arab state or state like entity west of the Jordan River.
I believe that if WWII taught us anything, it’s that dispossessed civilians don’t lose wars, do you disagree?
When “the arabs”, as you put it, become citizens of Israel, they will outnumber the Jewish population in short order.
Your thinly veiled prejudices are abhorrent as well.
2
For anyone who supports this "annexation", aka imperialism, please explain to me how this is okay while Russia taking Crimea is not? I'll wait.
49
@Still Waiting...
Easy. Palestine isn't considered a sovereign nation, and Ukraine is.
Now, no one has done anything to stop either because the UN is inept, but that's a whole other story.
4
A recent editorial piece reminded us of the terror attacks in the 90s and 00s that gave rise to current Israeli politics and policies. Israelis recall the horror of bomb threats in public places and therefore will support promises of safety above all else. This is understandable.
I’m wondering what the Palestinian equivalent is. What actions by the Israelis are the backdrop for Palestinian politics and policies to be supported? I remember that the first car bombs were used by Zionists to terrorize Palestinians to clear out. I have many other memories, if I am a Palestinian, to justify deep suspicion or hatred of Israel.
So: who will work for reconciliation?
8
@Dagwood Who will work for reconciliation? Jared Kushner, of course! (Just kidding.)
2
Contrary to the impression given by the recent op-ed you refer to, the cycle of violence did not begin with the suicide bombings described. The Zionist terrorists of the Irgun and Stern Gang carried out atrocities against Palestinians to drive them out of the future State of Israel as well as to drive the British out. The cycle will never end with people like Netanyahu propagating fear and continuing to flaunt International Law, launching military attacks against civilian populations, and using disproportionate force against mostly peaceful demonstrators participating in the March of Return.
Netanyahu is carrying out the wishes of his father who opposed the original borders of Israel, insisting that only the borders of "Greater Israel" from the Mediterranean Sea to at least the Jordan River would be acceptable. Now he just has to expel the Palestinians from the Occupied Territory of the West Bank and move in more Israeli Settlers. How could that possibly lead to more violence?
6
What they're doing is bad enough.
That they do it with my tax dollars is intolerable.
70
For those who say there is nothing unusual about annexation of lands after conquest, I refer them to international law established after WW2, specifically the 4th Geneva Convention.
15
Fantastic news! This should have been done years ago. The land already belongs to Israel since they captured it after they were attacked in 60's. Finally time to make it official.
90% of the people making comments here don't know anything about the West Bank, how or why Israel captured it, what the current land looks like, or even what his plan for annexations look like. They are simply officially making the parts settled by Israelis (who have lived in many of these areas for 50 years) officially part of Israel.
The Palestinians won't be hugely effected other than complaining that the land is theirs etc etc. but when you've tried to make peace over 100 times with your neighbors and they won't agree to even the most logical proposals at some point you have to simply move on.
The only future Palestinians want is a dreamland where they get back all of the land they had from 1947 and get complete control of Jerusalem. This is a complete pipe dream yet this is what they demand. Totally unreasonable - it's like asking Jordan, Iraq, Egypt to give back all the land and money they stole from the 100,000 of jews that were expelled during the same period that the Palestinians were expelled.
Not to mention that none of the Arab countries that created the whole problem for the Palestinians in 1947 and 1967 have ever lifted a finger to help them, they simply were pushing their own agenda.
Israel has my support to do whatever they need to do to secure their nation and borders.
16
@John Connor
Seems you didnt read the article. If Israel annexes the Jordan valley then there is no Palestinian state. Its the same as saying that Jews could reside inside the Warsaw ghetto as a Jewish state.
4
@John Connor then by all means, YOU pay Israel's bills. Looks like the rest of us real Americans are tired of paying Bibi's way. He's a criminal and a fraud.
7
Sounds to me like you’ve never actually been to the West Bank. Palestinians won’t be affected? That’s the comment of someone who has never seen checkpoint lines nor any other horror reserved for Palestinians who dare to try to exist under Israeli jurisdiction.
2
Look at the confiscated territory in the West Bank which Israel has taken for expanded Jewish settlements. This has not happened overnight. And now, the next flagrant step is to annex the Jordan Valley. And not just the Western nations look on and say, "so what," but the Arab people do the same. Some day, Israel will be telling the world that Jordan and Syria are technically part of Israel. So, if Jordan doesn't put up any stop signs, who else will. The Middle East should know by now there is no West Bank, there never has been, it has always been Israel's land. The same applies to the Jordan Valley.
1
My grandmother who’s Sephardi can’t believe what she’s reading from Israel. She’s 97 and while she supports Israel, she can’t endorse the mentality which would displace and exterminate another people even if those people have killed her family members. Two wrongs don’t make a right and how will this security be sound? It would bring the eternal enmity of the conquered and will justify another century of misery and death to those in the Middle East. Can we look at reconciliation and a two state solution? If Israel decides to outright annex, just as Russia did with Crimea, how can we tell other nations not to do the same? This would invite the rest of the nations to conquer and be conquered in the name of glory and war.
24
@Xguy2287
No one is being exterminated.
In point of fact, the growth of the Palestinian population in both the West Bank and Gaza has been greater than the growth of the Jewish Israeli population over the past 70 years, even with Israel absorbing most of the 700,000 Jews who fled or were expelled from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Morocco etc during this time. And in 2019, life expectancy in the West Bank and Gaza is not any lower than in any other Arabic speaking country.
2
The big concern is what will the US do if Israel commits a first strike attack on Iran. Do we get dragged into another war by an ally which is becoming a huge liability under this corrupt prime minister.
12
@TG
'another war' ... might happen if the timing is right; perhaps in a year, when Trump is desperate for re election to avoid prosecution for accumulated fed, state, local offenses. Don't look for any other rationale in anything Trump does other than what is good for him.
Another sin by the man who wishes to bring Israel down to the level of his worst neighbors. Revenge is a tool of evil and Netanyahu uses the idea of it to lead his people off a cliff, in the name of a false good.
Israel is just a shadow of a nation, once a shining example to follow. This was brought upon itself by their own people who elected Netanyahu. Remember, the assassination of Rabin, brought on by his own people. Those who wanted good in Israel have no power, or have left for other countries.
Support for Israel must end. They are no better ally than any of the dictator nations that the US supports, any longer. I wish it were, but it is gone. Only Israel can turn back its own path now, and right itself.
14
it's regrettable to see how far US support, aid and military sales have developed the worst instincts of the israeli government and society. where is the "security" in illegal settlements?
and it's a cruel irony to see how far the nation founded by a people with a terrible and long history of suffering prejudice, humiliation and pogrom has become a nation bent on evicting palestinians from their homes and usurping their lands.
11
The Kushner-Netanyahu produced "Deal of the Century" will propose buying Palestinian legal and human rights. When that gets ridiculed by international consensus, Netanyahu will simply tell his voters, "I tried".
Just another deception by Netanyahu to retain power.
10
Before the condemnation of Netanyahu's of his promise to annex Israel's side of the Jordan Valley becomes intense it should be recalled that prior to the 1948 War Of Israeli Independence, the West Bank (including that portion of the Jordan Valley) was part of the British Protectorate.
When the UN voted to establish an Arab and Jewish nation with the expiration of the protectorate, the Jordanian Army led by Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb and other British officers, immediately crossed the Jordan, and soon conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The West Bank and East Jerusalem were later formally annexed by Jordan in 1950. At the time the world was silent on this annexation.
During the 1967 war, Israel captured from Jordan the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN has since considered continued Israeli presence an occupation.
Why Jordan, a nation created by Britain as a consolation for not supporting the Jordanian king's claims to Saudi Arabia, could annex the West Bank by military conquest without violating the world's conscience, while Israel cannot is a question that largely answers itself.
6
wrong history, the west bank was Jordanian territory when Jordon attacked Israel. Jordon lost. Israel won against Jordanian aggression and occupied the territory. Jordon has made no move to reclaim its territory.
2
@GerardM
Of course. We're all just picking on poor Israel.
5
@GerardM No, you have this wrong. We Americans are tired of paying the bill for Bibi the war criminal. Again, if you want to use history as your excuse for the displacement and extermination of other people, you go on with your bad self. But we can keep going back in time to justify one side or another. If Israel wants to engage in this behavior because, as you say, history entitles them, then SO BE IT. But not with my money.
1
Leaving aside the ethical issues facing Israel thanks to Netanyahu dangling annexation in front of Israeli voters, let's not be distracted from the thoroughly political opportunism of our own president. The prospect of Israel's annexation of most of the west bank is red meat for the so-called "Christian" evangelicals here at home. It would be a giant step toward the conditions they believe are necessary for the second coming of Christ and the ascendance of Christians into Heaven. By supporting this planned land-grab Trump is trying to assure himself a big evangelical turnout for him in 2020.
8
This was totally predictable, and probably green lighted from the White House. Bolton has just been removed for his aggressiveness, but at the same time what stability does the annexation yield in the region? Down the rabbit hole we go.
4
Whatever moral high-ground that Israel had occupied, is being exchanged for "real-estate". The only real democracy in the region indeed!
This will take away Israel's biggest asset - the worlds empathy - for what?
6
Even you Israel-haters have to admit that if this were merely a dispute over where to draw the border, it would have been solved long ago.
There is only one reason this is happening. Which is that the Palestinians do not want a state in the West Bank and Gaza, they want Israel.
How do I know this? Because the roadmap for peace was always fairly straightforward, except for one thing - "right of return". The Right of Return is the one thing Palestinians truly want, and the one thing Israel cannot give, because it would mean the end of Israel as a homeland for Jews. And because flooding Israel with hostile Palestinians would obviously be a massive security problem.
So, in denying Israel's right to exist, and holding out for the one concession that will never happen, the Palestinians have keep themselves in a state of limbo. Israel is under no obligation to hold the West Bank in safe keeping indefinitely, until some imagined time when the Palestinians will decide negotiate in good faith.
9
Another desperate last-minute grab for Right Wing and Orthodox votes by Netanyahu.
On the other hand, 2/3 of the original Mandatory Palestine that was to be divided into Jewish and Arab territories in the 1940s was prematurely given to the Kingdom of Jordan and is now inhabited primarily by the same clans and tribes of those who call themselves Palestinians.
So, since 2/3 of Mandatory Palestine was already given to the Palestinians before the UN could even divide the land, and since this disputed land was won by Israel in a war that these same Arab interests started in order to annihilate Israel, the world should accede to giving this small parcel of land to Israel in the interest of securing peace in the region.
But I still maintain that it’s a desperate election ploy.
Oh boy! I can’t wait to read the responses and attacks on this comment. (Let’s see, how many references to Czechoslovakia? How many to Ukraine? How many to Tibet? How many to the US’ actions?)
3
@Inkspot
The world should accede to Israeli annexation? Once they give the Palestinians equal rights. Otherwise its just apartheid.
4
Relax, what could go wrong ? The ultra-competent
Prince Jared is on the case.
4
"Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war. Most of the world considers it occupied territory and Israeli settlements there to be illegal."
Let's be clear. Israel was ATTACKED in '67 by multiple countries, including Jordan. Israel WON that land in battle.
14
Netanyahu must be solidly stopped at the ballot boxes. The safety of my country depends on averting war and terrorist attacks caused by such irresponsible actions against the Palestinian people, their homes, and what is left of their livelihoods. Netanyahu will say or do anything to stay in power for the next five minutes, and this preposterous land-grab is his latest subterfuge. Believe it now or never: there are millions of Israelis who want and vote for peace. I am one of them.
12
So the second world war started because the Germans/Austrians wanted to take back territory that had been part of Germany, Prussia or Austro-Hungary for hundreds of years prior to WWI and that they viewed as theirs by historic right. However, the UK and France objected because annexing your neighbor's territory was viewed as aggression. Apparently it is now perfectly acceptable to do exactly the same thing if you are Israel. Clear hypocrisy.
8
Jordan attacked Israel and lost the West Bank. your historic reference is wrong.
2
@mkm
Israel attacked Egypt first.
2
I don't know how much purchase a random American can have with Israelis. I can only say that Netanyahu is a horrible leader. This would be disastrous for the peace process, whatever remains of it, and is not in any way a creative solution. It will only cause more problems.
4
How is it that a hope of winning an election hinges on a pledge to violate international law? Israeli voters need to do some serious soul searching.
6
What role did John Bolton have in allowing Netanyahu to claim U.S. support for what will amount to an act of war?
There will only be a bit of surprise when a Trump Tower or resort is erected there and in Jerusalem when it becomes the capital, where Ivanka is angling for a fashion shoe and sneaker store and Jared a funny sort of hedge fund.
Next year the Presidents' 14-year-old son will join Melania in running the Trump family, wherein Donny Jr. will be the enforcer and Eric will keep very funny books and become the consigliere.
Would you rather have radical socialists who hate America in a Bernie or Elizabeth Dem Party handing out free Medicare for all citizens possessing USA identity cards and very affordable colleges and free community colleges, instead of Wall Stree who we know will look out for the bottom 90 percent's interests as indentured servants with reliable paychecks to use in loads of Dollar This and That Stores and day-old bread stores?
3
I don't recall what Israel has in mind to do with all the Palestinians. Are they to become Israeli citizens like it or not? Would they get a vote? Would they have to leave the annexed West Bank and go where?
4
The West Bank annexation promised by Netanyahu, and apparently supported by Trump, would be a violation of the core values of Judaism, doing justice and respecting the humanity of all persons.
It would break the heart of so many of us who have tried so hard and for so long to recognize BOTH the essential nature of a Jewish homeland in light of thousands of years of brutal repression and an unspeakable, incomprehensible Holocaust, AND the human rights and political necessity of Palestinians having a homeland of their own with equal status in the world.
Whatever ground war such a move might create, it would surely put many Jews at war within ourselves--seemingly required to choose one side of an indivisible set of values and state of being.
Once before the US created a similar dilemma--when it sent 120,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps in 1942-44, in essence telling these of our neighbors that they could either be Japanese or American, but not both.
If Trump supports the annexation, and does not actively oppose it, he will go down in history as a traitor to the Jewish people all over the world.
1
All enabled by US citizens tax dollars.
6
Under Israeli governance, the "palestinian" people will prosper. Under "palestinian" governance, they will continue to be oppressed and suffer.
4
@bob That's up to them to decide, not you.
5
Great timing on Netanyahu's part. Tomorrow is the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks -- al-Qaeda having been motivated in part by the US support of Israel. The meltdown of the Middle East will never end in our lifetime, and the rest of the world pays for it.
6
Gentrification of the West Bank will continue...check.
As if this is really news...
1
Netanyahu, no longer talks about the Israeli - Palestinian Peace talks. That, already looks dead.
The West Bank, being occupied territory, is now to be sealed as a fully owned Israeli land, with the proposed annexation of the Jordan Valley.
Netanyahu will do anything to stay in power. The proposal to annex the Jordan Valley, is his latest maneuver, and tactic. His policies and strategies may be short sighted. He just does not care. Netanyahu is not interested in peace.. He has one long outstanding and pending item on his Wish List. An attack on Iran. He will keep pushing and provoking the US, for that to happen.
The Israeli people should be more concerned of their country's future. That may be decided in next week's elections.
25
Annexation of the land that would make Israel safe and secure is the beginning of the end of the conflict. Palestinians must realize, internalize and accept that their dreams of an independent state in the West Bank with Jerusalem as their capital is gone. The sooner they accept such defeat the sooner we can find some autonomy or federation with Jordan or some other solution that would make their lives better. For some reason many of the NYT readers continue insisting on a two-state solution that is obsolete. Annexation is the consequence of decades of Palestinian rejectionism.
12
@Eliel
You are proposing to annex the land and not the people. This has never brought and safety or security anywhere (by the what beautiful initials!). Maybe the best exampel of what happens next is SA (South Africa). We (Israelis) sold much weapons to SA at the time of the Bantustans would so we are not new to the system.
3
I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect this move would lead to trouble.
6
Really hard to uphold oneself as a beacon in the Middle East, a paragon of democracy in a sea of autocrats right now.
Truth is, Israel has never been more secure than right now. No Arab state (or any state, for that matter) truly threatens it, and Iran is many miles away. And the Arab states are so focused on Iran, after raising not a peep on the Golan and the move of the capitol, they'll likely say nothing. Meanwhile, the most stable and reasonable Arab state in the region, Jordan, gets destabilized.
13
"Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war. Most of the world considers it occupied territory and Israeli settlements there to be illegal".
I find this formulation concerning.
It is not that most of the world considers the occupied territory and settlements illegal. The occupied territory and settlements are illegal. PERIOD. They are illegal because they are in clear breach of international laws, including United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Saying that most of the world considers the occupied territory and settlements as illegal, in a way gives the impression that there is somehow still a debate, or that it is not clear whether they are illegal or not. There are some people who do not recognize or accept these laws, and the laws are obviously not enforced, but the laws are still there, and valid.
These types of formulations will certainly serve people who support the occupation and the settlements, and will not help the Palestinians to have a land for themselfves, as Israel does.
56
@GD Both you and the NYT are wrong.
You know zip about International law.
Israel didn't "sieze" the West Bank in 1967 - Israel was attacked all along the armistice line by Jordanian forces and counter-attacked, resulting in the occupation.
As a result, in spite of what you claim, the military occupation of the West Bank is 100% legal.
This is, in fact, recognized by the applicable UN resolutions with the force of law (not all resolutions have the force of law) that call for a solution to borders and territory to be negotiated, and not for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal.
BTW, a UN investigative committee also ruled in 2011 that the blockade of Gaza is legal.
“We haven’t had such an opportunity since the Six Day War, and I doubt we’ll have another opportunity in the next 50 years,” --Mr. Netanyahu
And why won't "we" have another opportunity to do such a thing "in the next 50 years," Mr. Netanyahu? Because it will be viewed exactly as it is viewed as wrong by the great majority of human beings who live on Earth. This is simply a transparent and desperate political ploy to forestall the inevitable political tide which will sweep this man away once and for all.
16
I have always said that I cannot understand how a people so oppressed over the centuries can suddenly turn around and become the oppressors.
58
@LIChef Kind of like some victims of child abuse become child abusers. Some victims of sexual abuse become sexual abusers. As a retired psychotherapist, I long wondered how this could be, despite my professional knowledge. It takes a lot more than many have to overcome the abuse and deprivation of their pasts. Many choose not to do the work.
3
@LIChef
I couldn't either, especially because one half of my family is Jewish. A psychiatrist, whose parents were Jewish, told me it's called identifying with the aggressor.
3
@LIChef
Protestants who were oppressed in Europe and came to the New World for religious freedom. Then they turned around and slaughtered the Native Americans.
5
You know, one of these days someone’s going to discover, invent or develop a legitimate alternative to fossil fuels. And when they do, you’re going to see the entire world lose interest in the Middle East. Maybe then the fighting will finally stop.
4
@Henry
Cannot wait till it happens
1
@Henry
All sorts of alternatives exist which do not encourage war or pollute. Societies need 'vision' to create new industries. New industries need investment - investment requires taxes -
The oil industry has been supported for many decades by lobbying, by legislation, and by war.
As long as the oil industry owns congress and the idea of 'vision' is ridiculed this will not happen.
Not too late to change this.
1
I don’t care what side of the argument you’re on, ratcheting up tensions in a region where radical and unstable countries have rapidly growing nuclear capabilities is infinitely reckless. Abandoning all paths to negotiation always inevitably leads to war. Unfortunately, the United States is currently led by a person who doesn’t know any history beyond what he ate for breakfast.
15
I wonder if congress knows they support this, because declaring support for this is beyond the purview of the office of the president.
3
It's about time the West Bank was annexed. The last time Israel traded land for peace by giving up Gaza proved to be a total disaster. No way is Netanyahu going to repeat the same mistake with The West Judging by the Gaza debacle isn't it obvious by now that the Palestinians don't want an independent state? It's time to bury this two state nonsense once and for all?
6
@sharon5101
And the orchestra was playing as the water reached the staircase. It is about time to watch "Titanic" again but without the love part.
2
I am the only one for this? I say let Israel take the entire West-Bank, than the Palestinians living there can demand their rights as citizens in the state of Israel. Wouldn’t this action be the first step towards a one state solution?
6
Trust me, as a lifelong, staunch supporter of Israel, when I say this: if Israel does this and forfeits any chance of a future broad settlement, support for Israel among Americans will decline sharply over the next decade. Nothing could affect Israel's security more adversely than the loss of consistent US backing. There won't always be a Trump, perhaps as soon as 2021.
19
Trump seeking to buy Greenland. Bibi expanding illegal settlements to annexation of the West Bank as a last-minute political effort to swing an election. With such shenanigans,
what moral right does Trump have to deny China from seizing Hong Kong or Taiwan. In immorality, isn't what's fit for the goose also fit for the gander? Hmmm Might that be why Trump doesn't object to Putin's seizure of the Crimea and portions of the Ukraine? As a former Foreign Service Officer, I remember when international law and territorial integrity were the crux of U. S. policy. Now, Katie bar the door.
10
The situation in the west bank is complex saying the least. The facts are that tin large sections of the west bank the Palestinians have municipal autonomy and economically are far better than citizens in neighboring Arab countries. Israel has left the Gaza strip and the extremist Hamas took over, thus, there is one thing Israel can’t give the west bank Palestinians and this is military sovereignty
Israel has the right to exist and protect itself. A militarized west bank would jeopardize this.
5
So in exchange for the highlands and lowlands of Jerusalem and Judaea and Samaria (The West Bank), does Netanyahu propose to give the Palestinians the Negev or the Galilee? I bet not, and surely not Gamla in the Golan. This doesn't bode well for the future or for peace.
1
Playing to the fears of Israelis (secure borders at the expense of a 2 state solution; nuclear weapons in Iran) indicates to me that Bibi is running scared. And does he really think that the US Congress will support his territorial acquisition with military or financial support?
1
"[S]ecure, permanent boarders"? It seems like the border of Israel is constantly expanding outward. Is this a commitment to cease construction of settlements in outlying areas?
2
Netanyahu and Trump look equally desperate right now. They’re both trying to draw attention away from their low approval ratings and will do anything to get re-elected, including setting the world on fire.
8
I love Israel and feel this enclave of noisy enclave of democracy in the Middle East has been treated unfairly by the rest of the world. Netanyahu’s promised annexation of the West Bank gives at least the appearance of an imperialist mentality. This will make peace negotiations all but impossible. A sad day for Israel.
1
Annexing part of the West Bank will be just great for bringing peace into the area, what could possibly go wrong? Netanyahu is desperate.
1
Between this and Boris Johnson we have seen some really bad moves by hard-line conservatives. This is inviting disaster for Israel. Trump may not be around for long enough to make good on any promises to back Israel up in doing this. What a breathtaking gamble to take on Israel's future security.
1
Good move that will likely put all the residents of the West Bank on the road to peace and prosperity.
2
Interesting. He is only codifying the facts on the ground. Palestinians have been living for decades in a land with a de facto colonial power lording over them. He is also pushing Israel to a reckoning with the dilemma of how to deal with the resident Palestinians. At some point, Israel will have to face reality and decide whether to incorporate all of the Palestinians as citizens of a greater Israel or increase the already brutal suppression and apartheid conditions. 3 million Palestinians won’t just disappear, no matter how much the Israeli government wishes it were so. The idea of a two state solution has been a farce for many, many years. Just look at the settlement borders in the West Bank to understand the impossibility of that outcome. The pretense is gone now.
4
So much for Donald’s promises of a Middle East peace plan. Promises made, promises...?
1
@DWS
Promises? Gavin Newsome promised to build 3.5 million new residences in California, 850,000 per year for 5 years. He also promised to appoint a Homelessness Czar. Did he keep either one?
I'm guessing that Kushner is (again) saying "now is not the right time to reveal our peace plan".
1
the Palestinians had chance for state with Oslo accords in 1990's ;but they broke the deal lost there chance.
2
@plainleaf Historical fact. They were not the first to break the deal. Second: to stop it, Netanyahu and the right-wing encouraged/organised the murder of the Israeli Prime Minister that would have carried it through.
1