Israel's Creeping Annexation

Abstract

A raft of legislative proposals introduced in the Knesset over the last several years has raised the specter of Israeli annexation of additional West Bank territory. One bill would provide for nearly automatic application of new Knesset legislation to Israelis residing in the West Bank. A second would authorize the expropriation under certain circumstances of privately-owned Palestinian land for incorporation into Israeli settlements, extending the Knesset's reach to the regulation of West Bank land use by non-Israelis. A third, entitled the “Maale Adumim Annexation Law,” provides for the full application of Israeli law in Israel's largest West Bank settlement, as well as in an adjacent twelve square kilometer area called the “E1 Zone,” one of the few remaining land reserves available for the development of Palestinian East Jerusalem.