18 | JULY 9 • 2020 

Don’t 
Don’t 
Annex:
Annex: 
Save the Two 
Save the Two 
State Solution
State Solution

YAEL S. ARONOFF SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
I

srael’
s unilateral annexation of parts of 
the West Bank could be imminent. It 
would be one of Israel’
s greatest mis-
takes.
I share the life-long, deep desire of Israelis 
and Palestinians for peace. I am convinced 
that this will only happen through a two-
state solution that recognizes both people’
s 
desire for and right to self-determination. 
This resolution paradigm — a Jewish 
majority state and a Palestinian majority 
state existing alongside one another — 
has existed almost as long as the conflict 
itself. Although the stagnation in the peace 
process has undermined support for this 
solution, Israeli and Palestinian polls have 
shown over many years that both peoples 
prefer this solution significantly more than 
any other single alternative. 
The temptation by some to unilateral-
ly annex territory from the West Bank, 
emboldened by encouragement from the 
Trump administration, must be strongly 
and vehemently resisted by Israelis. There 
are no benefits, and only multiple and grave 
costs.
The Israeli military leadership has strong-
ly opposed unilateral annexation, warn-
ing of likely spikes in violence, while the 
Palestinian Authority could dismantle itself, 
leaving Israel solely responsible for security 

in the entire West Bank. A letter dated Aug. 
27, 2019, signed by 25 retired Israel Defense 
Force commanders and former govern-
ment security heads, and addressed to four 
U.S. House representatives, reaffirmed the 
importance of rejecting unilateral steps and 
maintaining the two-state paradigm.
Likewise, both the Commanders for 
Israel’
s Security (CIS) and the Israeli 
Institute for National Security Studies 
(INSS) warn of the dangerous security con-
sequences of unilateral annexation, includ-
ing Hamas capitalizing on the vacuum left 
by the potential collapse of the PA; the end 
to the strengthening of relations with many 
Sunni states that has quietly been taking 
place over the last decade, who are Israel’
s 
allies in balancing against Iran; and imper-
iling the peace agreement with Jordan. On 
top of that, Amos Gilad, former director 
of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at 
the Defense Ministry, predicts a diplomatic 
nightmare, in which Israel becomes further 
isolated and ostracized by countries and 
populations around the world. 
Deepening disillusionment could also 
lead to further deterioration in public sup-
port among Israelis and Palestinians for a 
two-state solution, which could also eventu-
ally undermine international legitimacy for 
this solution. Benny Gantz, Israel’
s current 

defense minister and alternate prime min-
ister, and Israeli’
s Foreign Minister, Gabi 
Ashkenazi, both have warned that unilateral 
annexation should not happen without 
international backing — and that backing 
does not exist.
Thus, even for those whose only concern 
might be Israeli security and well-being, 
this move would be a disaster.
Israel will be left with no peace agree-
ment, an increase in violent attacks, greater 
threats to its democracy, undermined legit-
imacy of the two-state solution, the elim-
ination of existing Palestinian partners to 
peace and significantly increased threats to 
its legitimacy globally. Most of all, it under-
mines its own Zionist dream of having a 
democratic, Jewish state, that is also a state 
where all its citizens can live in peace along-
side its neighbors. It also all but extinguish-
es legitimate Palestinian dreams of having 
their own state.
If the goal is to annex all settlements as 
part of Israel, then we should all be clear — 
despite the magical thinking or obfuscation 
represented by the Trump plan — that this 
would mean the end of the two-state solu-
tion: It would render impossible a viable 
Palestinian state that would be accepted by 
Palestinians. If, however, as some in Israel 
now suggest, the goal is primarily to annex 

Eretz

OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90 VIA JTA

opinion

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
right, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz at a meeting at the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, June 28, 2020.

