Jasper Nathaniel on the De Facto Annexation of the West Bank

The "Annexation is Complete" Thesis

• 💡 Jasper Nathaniel argues that the annexation of the West Bank is not a future event but a completed reality, driven by Israeli policy.
• 🎯 This is facilitated by dismantling the legal and administrative structures that previously maintained a formal military occupation.

Basal Smotrich's Rise and Strategy

• 🔑 Basal Smotrich, a former extremist settler, now serves as Israel's Finance Minister and an Additional Minister in the Defense Ministry.
• 🛠️ He has strategically created a new organization, the Settlement Administration, to bypass military oversight and directly manage settlement expansion.
• 📈 Smotrich leverages his dual roles to disproportionately fund settlements and illegal outposts, effectively creating "facts on the ground."

Undermining Military Occupation and Legal Frameworks

• ⚖️ The formal military occupation, governed by international law, previously acted as a check on expansionist policies.
• 🚫 Smotrich's strategy involves eroding the distinction between Israel and the West Bank by applying Israeli laws to the occupied territory, a process of de facto annexation.
• 🗺️ Land registration in Area C, which constitutes 60% of the West Bank, is being used to reclassify Palestinian-owned land as state land, further facilitating Israeli control.

The E1 Project and Palestinian Futures

• 📍 The E1 project is a critical strategic land plot aimed at severing East Jerusalem from the West Bank and dividing Palestinian territories.
• 🚧 Construction in E1, long taboo due to international pressure, is now being advanced, promising the largest settlement expansion in decades.
• 🌍 This fragmentation effectively undermines the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state, leaving Palestinians with limited options: absorption as second-class citizens, self-exile, or death.

The "Decisive Plan" and Current Realities

• 📝 Smotrich's 2017 "Decisive Plan" outlined three outcomes for Palestinians: acceptance of colonial subjecthood, incentivized departure, or fighting to the death.
• ⏳ The current situation, with increased violence, settler terror, and the diversion of attention to Gaza, represents the ongoing implementation of this plan.
• 🌍 The speaker emphasizes that the West Bank is effectively annexed, with Palestinians living as subjects under a single, albeit unequal, state.