On Wednesday, October 22, the Israeli occupation’s Parliament advanced a bill to annex and extend Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law and UN resolutions. Rights groups warn that West Bank annexation would constitute a grave breach of international law, entrenching apartheid and legitimising land theft on a massive scale.
West Bank annexation after the West recognised a Palestinian state.
The bill, titled ‘Application of Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, 2025’, passed its preliminary reading, with the support of the Israeli occupation’s far right government and also the opposition parties. This was the first of four votes needed to pass it into law. It was introduced by extreme-right, homophobic Israeli politician, Avi Maoz, from the religious conservative Noam party.
The move — illegal under international law — will have serious consequences for Palestinians. It would not only make the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible, but would entrench the occupation and legitimise ‘Israel’s’ ongoing crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. According to Amnesty International, annexation would:
worsen human rights violations and enshrine the entrenched impunity that has fuelled decades of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave violations.
Annexation is illegal and gives the Israeli occupation no authority over the Palestinian territory
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Ramallah condemned the vote, claiming that the Israeli occupation has “no authority over any part of Palestinian territory,” and said it would fight it through legal and political means.
Annexation — when a country takes control of a territory by force and declares its sovereignty over it — is illegal. In the case of the occupied West Bank, annexation would mean full control over the territory for the Israeli occupation. It would provide legal and political cover for its policies of institutionalised discrimination, mass human rights violations, dispossession, displacement and disenfranchisement, and would further entrench the conditions Palestinians already face.
Even without formal annexation, between 600,000 and 750,000 illegal colonial settlers live across 250 illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are armed and supported by the government. They are protected by Israeli occupation forces, while roads, walls, and checkpoints carve up stolen Palestinian land.
Annexation — The ultimate quest for Zionists
The vote exposed deep divisions in Israel’s governing coalition. Netanyahu and most of his Likud party abstained or voted against the bills, aware of possible consequences from the US. But annexation is viewed as the ultimate fulfilment of Zionist destiny andYuli Edelstein, a senior Likud member, broke ranks and cast the decisive vote.
Trump is now prioritising a Gaza ‘cease‑fire’ and normalisation with Arab partners, and any talk of annexation risks alienating Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while visiting ‘Israel’ during the vote, said about annexation of the West Bank:
The president’s made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now, and we think it’s even threatening to the ‘peace deal’…At this time, we think it might be counter productive.
Annexation plans condemned by US for the wrong reasons
Rubio’s statements implied that annexation was bad timing rather than a moral red line, and raise questions about US motives. They also confirm that what is important to Trump are not Palestinian rights but only the stability of his fragile ‘Peace Plan’ and his ego.
In 2020, during his first term, Trump was encouraging Netanyahu’s annexation plan, through his ‘Deal of the Century’. Only after Arab states, particularly the UAE, made annexation suspension a condition for the Abraham Accords did Netanyahu back away from his plan.
Now, five years later, with Trump making himself out to be a global peacemaker, he has ruled out annexation, saying: “Israel’s not going to do anything with the West Bank”, claiming the US would withdraw all support for the Israel regime if annexation went ahead. He is insisting that he “gave his word to Arab countries” to avoid destabilising new normalisation deals. Trump’s shifting stance on annexation — endorsing, delaying, and denying it as headlines change — makes clear that his word carries no credibility.
Bill to link East Jerusalem with illegal settlements also advanced in the Knesset
In the same week, the Knesset also advanced a bill to authorise massive illegal construction in the E1 settlement corridor. If passed, this would revive the long‑delayed E1 project east of Jerusalem. Its aim is to link Ma’ale Adumim, one of the Israeli occupation’s largest illegal settlements, directly to Jerusalem via thousands of new housing units and highways.
The Israeli occupation government’s plan aims to connect Ma’ale Adumim — home to around 40,000 illegal settlers and one of the largest illegal settlements in the occupied territory — to Jerusalem through an estimated 3400-4000 housing units, new roads, commercial zones, hotels, and industrial areas. This project is part of Israel’s ‘Greater Jerusalem’ strategy, designed to expand the city’s boundaries to include major settlement blocs while cutting off Palestinian neighbourhoods from each other.
If built, the E1 development would have catastrophic consequences for Palestinians. It would cut the West Bank in half, isolate East Jerusalem, and divide Palestinian lands into isolated enclaves.
This would eliminate any possibility of a unified, viable Palestinian state. The plan forces Palestinians onto segregated bypass roads and tunnels between regions — a system designed to cement Israeli control over the heart of the West Bank.
Annexation and settlement expansion all part of the ‘Greater Israel’ plan
In a statement after the vote, the Settlements Subcommittee of the Israeli occupation’s Civil Administration said:
This is a dramatic and important step to strengthen settlements, deepen Israel’s grip on the heart of the country, and make it clear to the whole world that Judea and Samaria are an integral part of the State of Israel.
Far right Security Minister, and illegal settler, Itamar Ben Gvir said of the votes successes:
The right-wing government is doing what is right for the residents of the State of Israel. And what is right for the residents of the State of Israel is sovereignty now.
In August 2025, Netanyahu formally reapproved the E1 plan after two decades of international delays. A move which Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich called ‘the burial of the Palestinian state idea.’ Since early 2025, the Israeli occupation has rubber-stamped about 25,000 illegal settler homes — an all-time record.
The international community has a legal and moral duty to take immediate measures to ensure the Israeli occupation is unable to continue its apartheid and settler colonial land grabbing project in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the International Court of Justice has ruled illegal.
Featured image via Wikimedia
By Charlie Jaay
This post was originally published on Canary.