West Bank | Israel: Politics without inhibitions

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz is speaking out: A "Jewish Israeli state" is to be established on the territory of the occupied West Bank, he said during a visit to a settlement outpost in the northern West Bank on Friday. The announcement came just one day after the government announced its intention to build 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territories.

For decades, the world has watched as Israeli governments—right, left, or centrist—pushed forward the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, disenfranchising and expelling the Palestinian population . The goal was clear: the gradual takeover of the territory that, since the so-called Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, was supposed to become the core of a Palestinian state.

Up to 800,000 Jewish settlers in Palestinian territories

Up to 800,000 Israeli settlers now live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. Israel later annexed East Jerusalem, a move not recognized by most countries, but not the West Bank.

Defense Minister Katz's announcement regarding the annexation of the West Bank is therefore not really news, but it does make explicitly clear the government's goals: "We will establish the Jewish Israeli state here on this soil." Katz is thus fulfilling a promise to the settlers: They are essentially occupying Palestinian land in violation of international law as a vanguard and are counting on the future of the surrounding area becoming "free of Palestinians" and the settlers being incorporated into the territory of the State of Israel.

Israeli government sees favorable time

Benjamin Netanyahu's government deliberately ignores the rules of international law, has long since abandoned its inhibitions , and sees the time as opportune to realize what a messianically inspired Zionist movement has long dreamed of: a Greater Israel that would encompass not only the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but also parts of Syria and Lebanon, two neighboring countries that are regularly attacked by the Israeli army.

Even the growing criticism, including from Germany, and even threats of sanctions from France have not deterred Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Military force is creating a new territorial reality in the Middle East that is likely to cause the region to explode in the foreseeable future.

Katz's announcement is no coincidence

The timing of Katz's announcement is no coincidence: From June 17 to 20, a "Conference on the Two-State Solution" initiated by France and Saudi Arabia will take place at the UN headquarters in New York – with the aim of drawing up a "roadmap" for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Since these plans became public, Tel Aviv has been in a state of flux, clearly trying to thwart them. French President Emmanuel Macron has thrown his diplomatic weight into the mix, pushing for the conference to recognize Palestine as a state—a diplomatic nightmare for the Netanyahu government.

Will the German government support concrete measures against Israel?

The annexation of the West Bank announced by Defense Minister Israel Katz is thus "also a clear message to Macron and his staff: They will recognize a Palestinian state on paper—but we will build the Jewish Israeli state here on this soil," reads a statement from Katz's office. "The paper will be thrown into the dustbin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish."

It will be interesting to see how the European Union , and especially the German federal government, intends to respond to these statements. Berlin has indeed gathered courage and is criticizing Israel's conduct of the war more openly than ever before. However, there is a lack of action—that is, effective pressure and sanctions against the Israeli state , not to mention an arms embargo. Is the new chancellor ready for decisive action?