ISRAEL‘S ANNEXATION PLANS

ISRAEL‘S ANNEXATION PLANS ARE ILLEGAL

Israel’s aim to annex parts of the occupied West Bank was clearly ‘illegal’, the UN’s human rights chief said, warning that the consequences could be ‘disastrous’

West Bank is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, bordered by Jordan to the east and by the Green Line separating it and Israel on the south, west and north

West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore

Climate in the West Bank is mostly Mediterranean, slightly cooler at elevated areas compared with the shoreline, west to the area. In the east, the West Bank includes the Judean Desert and the shoreline of the Dead Sea – both with dry and hot climate

From 1517 to 1917 the West Bank was part of the Ottoman Empire

At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allied powers allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine (1920–47). The San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917

Turkey, successor state to the Ottoman Empire, renounced its territorial claims in 1923, signing the Treaty of Lausanne, and the area now called the West Bank became an integral part of the British Mandate for Palestine

1947 the UN General Assembly recommended that the area that became the West Bank become part of a future Arab state, but this proposal was opposed by the Arab states at the time

1948, Jordan occupied the West Bank and annexed it in 1950

 

1949 Armistice Agreements defined the interim boundary between Israel and Jordan  

Jordan ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967

1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the Six-Day War

With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no man's land, the West Bank was not annexed by Israel; it remained under Israeli military control until 1982

1982, as a result of the Israeli–Egyptian peace treaty, the direct military rule was transformed into a semi-civil authority

 

1993 Oslo Accords declared the final status of the West Bank to be subject to a forthcoming settlement between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. Following these interim accords, Israel withdrew its military rule from some parts of the West Bank, which was divided into three administrative divisions of the Oslo Accords

Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory (approximately 11%) of the West Bank known as Area A which remains subject to Israeli incursions. Area B (approximately 28%) is subject to joint Israeli-Palestinian military and Palestinian civil control. Area C (approximately 61%) is under full Israeli control

After the 2007 split between Fatah and Hamas, the West Bank areas under Palestinian control are an exclusive part of the Palestinian Authority, while the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas

In 2020, President Donald Trump unveiled his peace plan, which radically differs from previous peace plans

Future status of the West Bank, together with the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean shore, has been the subject of negotiation between the Palestinians and Israeli.