Author: Robert Satloff
Affiliation: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, USA
Organization/Publisher: The Washington Post
Date/Place: June 25, 2020/USA
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 1472
Keywords: Israel, Annexation, Palestine, Zionism
Brief:
In this article, the author, a self-proclaimed Zionist who is keen on good US-Israel relations, offers a critique of Israel’s latest decision to annex the West Bank. His reason for this is that it justifies the argument used by opposition of Israel that it is only interested in land grabbing and it extinguishes any possibility Israel might have of legitimizing its presence. He argues that Israel already enjoys a good status quo and this move endangers that hard-earned position. According to him, annexation would polarize the world into two camps: either staunchly pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel. That would be problematic for Israel because it would damage its long-sought policy of having secure borders. Recently, the USA’s support for Israel might have fueled its confidence encouraging it to take bold moves and normalizing such moves in the future as the US and Arab states start to accept it. However, this is still uncertain. There could be greater risks like a third intifada, collapse of the Palestinian Authority and downgrading of relations with Jordan. Gambling on such possibilities is not sensible but is justified to Israelis as they believe that they are alone at the end of the day and must make strides for themselves, whatever the consequences.
By: Sahar Sadiq, CIGA Research Intern
