About 400,000 settlers live in the West Bank in 150 official settlements and another 120 so-called 'unauthorised' outposts that have been covertly sponsored by the Israeli state since the 1990s
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A state of de facto annexation already exists on the ground in most of the occupied West Bank.
Almost two-thirds of the Palestinian territory, including most of its most fertile and resource-rich land, is under full Israeli control. About 400,000 Jewish settlers living there enjoy the full rights and privileges of Israeli citizens.
At least 60 pieces of legislation were drafted by right-wing members of the Knesset during the last parliament to move Israel from a state of de facto to de jure annexation, according to a database by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group.
Yesh Din points out that the very fact that some of these bills have passed as laws constitutes a form of annexation: "The Israel Knesset [now] regards itself as the legislative authority in the West Bank and the sovereign there."
Paradoxically, many of those bills were opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even though they were drafted from within his own ruling coalition.
Netanyahu argued that it would be wrong to pre-empt US President Donald Trump's peace plan, implying that annexation is high on the agenda.
Leaked details suggest that Washington is now preparing to green-light the formal annexation of at least some of that territory as part of its deal-making, though Netanyahu's political difficulties and his decision to call another election in September could mean putting details on ice once again.
The Golan precedentThree recent developments have also brought the idea of Israel annexing parts or all of the West Bank onto the agenda.
In March, US President Donald Trump recognised Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, seized from Syria during the 1967 war and annexed by Israel in 1981 in violation of international law. The US decision suggested a precedent whereby it might similarly approve a move by Israel to annex the West Bank.
In April, in the run-up to Israel's general election, Netanyahu said he would use the next parliament to "extend sovereignty" to all illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, using a phrase preferred by Israeli politicians to "annexation".
About 400,000 settlers live in the West Bank in 150 official settlements and another 120 so-called "unauthorised" outposts that have been covertly sponsored by the Israeli state since the 1990s. These settlements have jurisdiction over 42 percent of West Bank territory.
In early June, the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a stalwart supporter of the settlements and one of the architects of Trump's supposed "deal of the century", told the New York Times that he believed Israel was "on the side of God" and said: "Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank."
Support in Israel growingSupport in Israel for annexation is growing, with 42 percent backing one of several variants in a recent poll, as opposed to 34 percent who were behind a two-state solution. Only 28 percent of Israelis explicitly rejected annexation.
Behind the scenes, debates about formally annexing the Palestinian territories have been rife in Israel since it occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in 1967.
Successive Israeli governments, however, have demurred out of concern both that there would be strong international objections (most UN member states would be opposed to the annexation of territory recognised as illegally occupied in international law) and that Israel would be under pressure to give Palestinians in annexed areas citizenship, including the right to vote, that would undermine its Jewish majority.
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