According to Israel's public broadcaster, the proposals under discussion could include imposing Israeli control over parts of the West Bank, seizing Palestinian Authority (PA) funds, advancing settlement construction in the controversial "E1" corridor east of Jerusalem, and evacuating the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, home to some 200 Palestinians.
Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday as saying that Israeli sovereignty in "Judea and Samaria" is "inevitable—the only question is which areas", using the biblical term by which Israelis refer to the West Bank.
Over the past several months, Israel has taken a series of measures that analysts describe as the closest it has ever come to realising its long-standing ambition of asserting full sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
In July, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill endorsing the extension of sovereignty to the West Bank, where Israel maintains control over large areas and nearly 700,000 settlers reside. Earlier this August, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the advancement of the controversial E1 settlement plan, aimed at isolating Jerusalem and severing the northern West Bank from the south."
Blocking recognition of Palestine
Israeli officials have told local media that annexation could be implemented either preemptively—before the United Nations potentially recognises a Palestinian state during the General Assembly in September—or as retaliation if recognition goes ahead.
Axios cited Israeli, US, and European officials as confirming that the debate within the government is real, and that Israel's next move may depend on the position of President Trump, who blocked annexation plans twice during his first term.
Several Western nations—including Australia, Canada, France, and the UK—are reportedly preparing to recognise the State of Palestine at the UN in September, joining nearly 150 countries that already do.
Possible annexation scenarios
Analysts believe annexation is likely to unfold gradually, but three scenarios are currently under discussion:
- Annexation of Area C — representing 61 percent of the West Bank under the Oslo II Accord, where Israel already maintains complete security and administrative control.
- Legalisation of Settler Outposts — granting formal status to outposts scattered across roughly 10 percent of the West Bank.
- Annexation of Outposts and the Jordan Valley — which would amount to Israeli sovereignty over nearly 30 percent of the territory.
A "Hebron Emirate"?!!
Israeli media have also reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is exploring a plan to carve out the southern city of Hebron as a semi-autonomous entity, effectively separating it from PA jurisdiction.
The proposed "emirate" would be run by local clans instead of the PA and could potentially normalise ties with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords.
What annexation means for Palestinians
The term "annexation" or "imposing sovereignty" refers to a unilateral declaration by Israel treating the West Bank as part of its sovereign territory, subject to Israeli civil and administrative law. For Palestinians, this would mean living as residents without full citizenship rights—replicating the model already applied in East Jerusalem.
If Israeli sovereignty were extended to large parts of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority would effectively lose control over those areas, eroding its administrative and security role. Analysts say such a move would mark a decisive step toward entrenching a one-state reality in which Israel controls both land and people while maintaining a discriminatory legal system for Palestinians.
According to a 2022 Carnegie Endowment report, this would amount to transforming Israel into an apartheid state by law, not just in practice. It would also make any future negotiations far more complex, shifting the conflict from a dispute over borders to a struggle for civil and political rights within a single state.
A long-standing project
According to Israeli affairs analyst Ihab Jbarin, Israel has already made giant steps toward annexation and imposed a new reality after building a 'parallel state' in the West Bank over the past 20 years.
The only remaining question, he told Al Jazeera, is 'when will the official announcement come?'.
The roots of annexation go back to the aftermath of the 1967 war, when Israel began to advance a strategy aimed at establishing the West Bank as an inseparable part of the state.
In the years following the war, Israel annexed parts of the territories it had occupied to create buffer zones, using them both as bargaining chips in potential peace talks with Arab states and as foundations for settlement expansion.
Since then, Israel has steadily deepened its control by expanding settlements, establishing new outposts and pastoral enclaves, integrating them with Israeli infrastructure, and demolishing Palestinian homes.
The first city to be formally annexed was Jerusalem, where the Knesset passed a law in July 1980 declaring it part of Israel.
Profound global and regional implications
Legal experts say declaring Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank would violate the UN Charter and the Geneva Convention. The International Criminal Court is already investigating Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank as a potential war crime.
European officials also warned that such a step could trigger sanctions against Israel by the EU, its member states, and other Western countries.
Arab officials, meanwhile, say annexation would likely prompt Arab states to suspend or downgrade their peace agreements with Israel and could push prospects for Israeli-Saudi normalisation into an even deeper freeze, as reported by Axios.
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