Israeli plans to annex West Bank risk fresh anger and major protests
- As soon as July 1, Israel could take steps to annex parts of the occupied West Bank
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that the ‘annexation will not pass’
If Israel goes ahead with plans in areas of the West Bank, many locals believe the initial Palestinian reaction is likely to be subdued and limited to sporadic peaceful protests.
But that may not remain the case for long. Should annexation impact on the daily lives of Palestinians, popular protests may instead take a violent turn, according to Palestinians who live in the area.
“The annexation will not pass,” said an ardent supporter of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, who gave his name only as Jamal and preferred not to have his picture taken.
That is a sentence often repeated by the Fatah movement with regard to the imminent Israeli plan, which could include annexation of the occupied Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and settlements throughout the West Bank, territory Palestinians want for a future state.
“If Israel proceeds with the annexation, the situation is going to get really ugly,” said Jamal, a 22-year-old university student from Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority (PA). “We will make life impossible for the Israelis.”
But Waad Hamdan, 33, from the village of Dura al-Qaraa, and Khalil Fawadleh, 35, from the village of Aboud, both near Ramallah, do not foresee their day-to-day reality changing – they feel as if they are already living on annexed territory.