World News

Israel-U.S. Plan for Further Illegal Annexation of West Bank

Reporter Jessie Starcher

Around the end of January, 2020 U.S. President Donald Trump finally announced his long awaited and self proclaimed “Peace Plan'' for the middle east. Simply put, the plan only serves to support Israel and to award them even more swaths of former Palestinian land. This includes an annexation of East Jerusalem, the rest of Palestine's border with Pro-Palestine nation Jordan, and several of the illegal Israelite settlements within Palestine and the roads around them.

Although the deal admittedly does return some land to Palestine (although a very small portion at that), the land that will be given is mainly empty, non-fertile desert, in exchange for the fertile settlements Israel wishes to acquire.

This is not the first time the President has rewarded Israel with his “peace” plans. In mid-2019, the President had both officially recognized the entirety of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital) and the controversial annexation of Golan Heights, a territory Israel has illegally occupied and settled on account of Syria. These moves by the president had only served to add fire to the already burning tensions between the middle east nations, as many aligned with Iran have already began to use it to further their causes.

The U.S. has currently ordered Israel to stand down from the plan as of now due to universal condemnation of the plan.

Palestine of course is highly opposed to the annexation, as it would not only cut them off from Jordan, a major ally and supporter of their independence, but also much of its land. A near third of their nation would be taken from them. The UN has also condemned the move, but have done little more than a slap to the wrist to the US and Israel, only releasing a list of 112 company names linked to illegal settlements in Palestine, among these major multinational grain companies and smaller Israeli companies. This move by the U.N. was condemned by the president and his appointed officials, calling it a blacklist and saying that it would hurt current “peace” efforts in the middle east.

Any vote or actual action against the move would likely be vetoed by the U.S. It is also notable that the E.U. has also rejected the plan, but likely will also do little to nothing against it.

So how did this plan even come to be, considering how blatantly illegal it is? The simple answer is the upcoming elections for both the U.S. and Israel. Israeli president Netanyahu has been experiencing less and less support amongst both his people and officials within his country, and even faces an upcoming corruption trial, so how does he bolster his support? He accepts an annexation plan drawn up by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son in law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner. He believes this plan will appeal to many of the Far-Right leaning officials and citizens in the country.

The same can be said for President Donald Trump, although his situation may be less dire than Netanyahu’s, “solving” the problem of Israel and Palestine, in his mind, could boost support within his country for the upcoming 2020 election. The president has already hailed the plan as the first to “truly” get anything done in Israel, and as a plan that favors both sides equally. The president also urged Palestine to accept the plan, stating that it was “the best option” for them.

So why is this such a big deal, even for a staunch supporter of Israel? The plan for one is completely illegal under international law. It is clearly stated within the laws of U.N. that annexation in any way, especially without the consent of the target nation, is illegal. However what not many people are seeing is that Israel and the U.S. are clearly getting away with this, and have for a while, with Israel slowly whittling away at Palestinian lands. Major powers need to be controlled and restricted in accordance with international law, they must be an example to the other nations of the world.