At the same time, Netanyahu has been pushing ahead with a new basic law that would define Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, rather than of Israel's entire population. The legislation's intent is to further weaken the Palestinian minority's claim on citizenship.
Netanyahu's decision to ban the Islamic Movement as a "terrorist group" also fits the picture.
In a 2012 report by the International Crisis Group, a Washington and Brussels-based conflict resolution group, an official in Lieberman's party explained that one of the covert goals of Lieberman's plan was to rid Israel of "the heartland of the Islamic Movement."
Conversely, Netanyahu's Likud allies and coalition partners have been pushing aggressively to annex settlements in the West Bank.
Zahalka noted that the prime minister gave his backing last week to legislation that would expand Jerusalem's municipal borders to incorporate a number of large settlements, a move that would amount to annexation in all but name.
"The deal is Israel takes Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, and gives Umm al-Fahm and its surroundings to the PA," he said.
The pieces seem to be slowly falling into place for a populated-land exchange that would strip hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of their Israeli citizenship.
Paradoxically, the biggest obstacle may prove to be Netanyahu himself and his reluctance to concede any kind of meaningful state to the Palestinians.
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