
Briefing: Israel Continues Oppression of Palestinians in Jerusalem
May 28, 2020
Press release
July 5, 2020The Mission of the State of Palestine would like to share this publication with you on the threat of annexation, and Israel’s denial of Palestine’s right to exist. The collaborative analysis was published by the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department on 30.06.2020 and is dedicated to all the victims of Israel’s shoot-to-kill policy.
“To the memory of all children, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, and loved ones, we have watched the Israeli occupying forces kill them in cold blood. Most recently, Iyad Hallaq, Ahmad Erekat, Fadi Samara, Maher Za’atreh, and Sufian Al-Khawaja were left to bleed to death until they took their last breath.”
The report is in three sections: background, how annexation strangles Palestinian potential and the response. It contains contributions from Dr Susan Rose Power (section: ANNEXATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS), Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq and Dr Saeb Erakat (section: CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND WITH ANALYSIS: ANNEXATION), head of Palestinian negotiations department among others. This publication will inform all those interested in knowing more about the illegality of annexation and its impact on the lives of the Palestinian people, and their aspirations for an independent State of Palestine with an end to the occupation.
Background:
- The announcement of the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory did not emerge from a vacuum. It is part of an ongoing Israeli colonial project that, despite its blatant illegality, continues to be tolerated.
- Trump plan – the plan represents a new reality in international relations whereby a combination of arrogance, ignorance, and religious fundamentalism are set to oppose a rules-based world order.
- The annexation of areas of the WB has always been part and parcel of Israel’s ‘maximalist’ approach of extending and imposing the sovereignty of the State of Israel beyond the border of 1967 throughout the five decades of occupation.
- The creation of the settlement enterprise, measures to control land, and restrictions imposed on the Palestinians are all part of an Israeli plan to impose Israeli sovereignty over occupied territory.
Today, Israel is enacting extreme policies and the current US administration is taking radical steps to deliberately liquidate the prospects of a viable two-state solution between Palestine and Israel.
Annexation & strangling potential:
- Israel’s belligerent occupation of the territory of the State of Palestine, annexation of its capital East Jerusalem, exploitation of its water aquifers and other natural resources, and control and banning of access and development to large sections of its territory, have been ongoing since the start of occupation in 1967
- The cost of prolonged belligerent occupation and incremental annexation is loss of economic viability – straight and simple. No viability means no Palestinian state and thus, the demise of the two-state solution that the international order has prescribed as the way to end the conflict.
- Analysis of the UNCTAD report entitled “Economic costs of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian people”, particularly the economic opportunities lost to Palestine.
- Alongside the belligerent occupation that has been ongoing for over 53 years, the de facto annexation of large sections of the occupied territory through settlement, declarations of closed military areas, and maintaining exclusive control over access and land use of large sections of the territory, have all led to extensive damage to the prospects of a viable Palestinian state.
Response – Failure To Act:
- While the international community has reaffirmed its position on illegal Israeli policies on several occasions (including UNSC Resolution 2334 of 201614), it failed to take any significant concrete measures to prevent the process of annexation.
- “As long as Israel counts on the continuation of impunity, it will have no incentives or reason to abandon its annexation plan, let alone move towards a meaningful peace process that ensures the implementation of what every other process sponsored by the international community has been based on: international law”. – Xavier Abu Eid
- Ireland – the exclusion of the Occupied Territories bill from the government program was surely a signal for the Israeli government that not even Palestine’s closest ally in the EU was willing to adopt concrete measures?
The international response to annexation is overall one of opposition and concern, yet there is no consensus on what action should be taken. As long as the Israeli government counts on continued impunity, it will have no incentive to cancel its annexation plan, let alone to engage in a meaningful peace process that adheres to basic terms of reference, including what the international community has requested from any other Peace Process, including respect for international law.