The State of Israel and the Annexation of the West Bank

No one on this planet is a stranger to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine: reports intermittently flood the news of Palestinian civilians launching minor attacks on the Israeli Defence Force (the IDF), a name that seems rather ironic when paired with their consistent aggressive actions towards unarmed Palestinian protestors[1], and on rare occasions reports will arise highlighting the restrictions Israel places on the movement of goods, people and medical supplies into and out of the Gaza strip, resulting in 80% of Gaza’s two million strong Palestinian population depending upon Humanitarian aid[2]. However, a further development to the conflict has arisen recently – evoking half-hearted opposition from influential world leaders such as President Macron, the UN Secretary General and even, shockingly, our very own Prime Minister Boris Johnson[3]: Israel has announced that it plans to go forth with its designs for the annexation of the West Bank (which was first conceptualised in the Allon Plan by Israeli Politicians in 1967 following the initial occupation of the West Bank by the state of Israel after the Six-Day war[4]), which if completed, will result in the annexation of nearly a third of the West Bank[5]. Following the three elections that took place within 12 months in Israel, culminating in a coalition between Netanyahu’s Likud party and his main opposition Gantz’ Blue and White party[6][7], Netanyahu has struggled to be in a position where he has had the political power to begin the implementation of his annexation plans, seemingly fuelled only by staunch nationalism and patriotism as he is desperate to paint himself as an Israeli hero[8]. While it may come as no surprise to you that this annexation, which officially began on the 1^st of July 2020 but has since been revealed to be delayed until late July[9], is extremely bad news for the Palestinian populace, it may also come to be a surprise that this move is also politically bad for Israel, but before we can delve into why this may be an ill-thought out move on behalf of the Israeli nationalists, it is important to take a look at what the annexation actually means.