Annexation

Community members in Khirbet Samra loading their flock into trucks before their departure on Saturday, March 1, 2025. (Dikla Taylor-Sheinman)

Israeli settler violence is rapidly emptying Jordan Valley of Palestinians

Khirbet Samra is one of the last Palestinian shepherding communities in the West Bank’s eastern flank. State-backed settler militias are driving them out.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman and Georgia Gee March 19, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. president Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC, March 5, 2018. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Trump’s unfinished business for ‘Greater Israel’

From annexation to UNRWA, Trump’s Israel advisors should be taken at their word — and Democrats won’t stand in their way, says Lara Friedman.

By Jonathan Adler November 13, 2024

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrives at a government conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Israeli public has embraced the Smotrich doctrine

The internalization of the far-right minister's 'Decisive Plan' is evident in the popular support for a new ultimatum for Gaza: emigration or annihilation.

By Orly Noy November 10, 2023

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Yochai Damri, head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, and Home Front Maj. Gen. Uri Gordin, visit the remains of the ancient Jewish village of Susiya, where a Palestinian village of the same name now exists, in the southern occupied West Bank, December 15, 2021. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Annexation in the name of archeology

Armed with huge budgets, far-right Israeli ministers are pushing ahead with plans to displace Palestinians under the guise of safeguarding heritage sites.

By Alon Arad and Talya Ezrahi August 1, 2023

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a discussion and vote on the state budget in the Knesset assembly hall, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

While Israelis were in the streets, Smotrich unveiled his annexation plans

As protests escalated last week over the judicial overhaul, Israel's finance minister declared the end of the Oslo Accords in all but name.

By Roni Pelli July 27, 2023

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin addresses the Knesset ahead of a vote to abolish the reasonableness standard, Jerusalem, July 24, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s justice minister gives away the real aim of the judicial coup’s first law

In a Knesset speech, Yariv Levin listed five gov't decisions that were blocked for being ‘unreasonable.’ All were about Palestinians and the occupation.

By Ben Reiff July 25, 2023

Settlers of the Nachala Settlement Movement set up tents near Kiryat Arba, with the intention to establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, July 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Smotrich wants one million West Bank settlers. That’s not so far-fetched

Seeking to double the settler population, Israel's far-right government is expediting infrastructural plans that were — often literally — laid decades ago.

By Ben Reiff July 12, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by members of his government, seen after a hearing and a vote on the state budget in the Knesset, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Israeli government enters its most dangerous phase yet

While the judicial overhaul is widely seen as the central attack on democracy, it is paramount to show how it is directly linked to rising attacks on Palestinians.

By Haggai Matar June 3, 2023

MK Simcha Rotman, Head of the Knesset's Constitution Committee, poses for a picture at the Knesset, Jerusalem, January 17, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Welcome to Simcha Rothman’s vengeful coup

Embodying the rage that drives the Israeli right’s judicial assault, the chair of the Knesset’s Law and Justice Committee is poised to bring his once-fringe ideas to fruition. And, he tells +972, he is just getting started.

By Nate Orbach March 9, 2023

Left-wing activists demonstrate in central Tel Aviv following Huwara pogrom, February 27, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

This government’s pyromania may be its downfall

Huwara on fire is exactly what leading Israeli ministers wanted. But with the protest movement taking note, the next phase of their plan is no guarantee.

By Meron Rapoport March 3, 2023

Opposition MKs holding Israeli flags during a discussion and vote on the government's judicial overhaul plans in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Why Israel’s opposition won’t talk about the real goal of judicial overhaul

Government officials have explicitly said their legal reforms are about annexation. Opponents won't admit it because they share the same vision.

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man February 21, 2023

Settlers of the Nachala Settlement Movement set up tents near Kiryat Arba, with the intention to establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, July 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Why settlers don’t want annexation — yet

Settler leaders panicked when Israel was on the cusp of annexing the West Bank. The government's legal reforms now intend to put their concerns to rest.

By Merav Amir January 26, 2023

Israeli authorities installing a new section of the wall around Qalqilya, occupied West Bank, replacing the existing fence which has several holes created by Palestinians for crossing into Israel for work, January 10, 2021. In 2004, the International Court of Justice stated that the West Bank wall is "illegal and must be dismantled." (Keren Manor/Activestills)

After years of diplomatic inertia, what can the ICJ offer Palestinians?

The UN’s vote to request a ruling on the occupation is an indictment of the failure to hold Israel accountable — and carries risks and opportunities alike.

By Hugh Lovatt January 1, 2023