Knesset to vote on annexing West Bank

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Knesset will vote on a bill calling for full Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Deputy Speaker Danny Danon announced Tuesday that the Knesset will take up the bill, which he authored, at the end of October.

The bill also nullifies any financial obligations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had been established by previous agreements, according to a statement from Danon's office.

“If the Palestinian Authority wishes to proceed on this reckless path and bring further instability to the region, Israel cannot continue to pour funds into this sinking ship of failed leadership,” Danon said, referring to the PA's statehood bid at the United Nations last Friday.

“The funding agreements with the PA were reached with the hope that their leaders would work to create an environment of lasting peace and security with Israel. Given that it is clear that the Palestinians have no such desire, Israel must no longer be required to stand by these arrangements.”

The bill also nullifies the Oslo Accords, since it reads that “All obligations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority as established by international agreements … will be considered null and void.”

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/09/27/3089616/knesset-to-vote-on-annexing-west-bank

[kysrsoze]

1. So this is the excuse they plan to tie to pulling out all the stops?

That's nice.

[bemildred]

2. Yipes.

I suspect this clown has not really thought it through. What does he propose to do with all the people now living there? Do they become citizens? Are we planning to expel them? Hmmm.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Irredentism on the march!

PB

[denverbill]

4. They've already annexed it, de facto.

Nice of them to admit their ultimate goal instead of another 40 years of 'peace talks' and settlement building.

[azurnoir]

5. would this be a unilateral move? n/t

[bemildred]

6. Heh. nt

[Jefferson23]

7. That would make a nifty T Shirt business on ebay.

I like it posed just as you have done it, with the question mark, lol.

[azurnoir]

9. Lol it might atb that n/t

[aquart]

8. You get pissy. I'LL get pissier.

The PA was trying to get ahead of Arab spring and Israel is taking the PR gesture seriously. OY.

I can't imagine any gain from trying to take over a university town. And that's what Ramallah is.

Yikes.

Two groups with permanent PTSD going head to head. Oh, jolly.

[Ken Burch]

21. The Arab Spring will come to Palestine, no matter what

The West Bank doesn't have to be kept under Israeli occupation to be democratized. The Palestinian people can do it on their own. And it can only be valid and effective if the democratization of the West Bank occurs without Israeli coercion.

Please stop repeating the childish smear that Israelis want democracy but Palestinians don't.

[King_David]

23. Let us hope it does not emulate Egypt's sorry example nt

[Ken Burch]

25. The story isn't over in Egypt yet.

And it goes without saying that nothing good would have come of anyone trying to keep Mubarak in power. EVERYONE in Egypt, other than his cronies, wanted him gone. You can't stop change at a time like that.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. A vote that annexes the West Bank almost guarantees the General Assembly of the UN

voting in favor of creating the state of Palestine.

Not to mention Israel saying that Palestine can't be created unilaterally but rather through negotiation and then goes ahead and does the same thing by annexing the West Bank.

To complicate things, what if the UN votes in favor of Palestine before the Knesset holds its vote?

[Firebrand Gary]

11. Typical Israel, it's clear that they have no intention of a two state solution.

[LeftishBrit]

12. Danny Danon is an idiot

He was the one who invited Glenn Beck to Israel, and he doesn't seem to have improved since then.

[azurnoir]

13. get this Israel decides to support Quartet plan for renewed talks with Palestinians

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-decides-to-support-quartet-plan-for-renewed-talks-with-palestinians-1.387091

right after they announce more settlements of course wonder how long it will be till one of our 'Pro-israel' folks runs this as an example of how good Israel is

[whosinpower]

14. So......

If this were to pass, what happens with all the palistinians living there? Would they, by default become israeli citizens?

No - this bid is just as empty as the palistinians bid at the UN. It will never pass.
If it does pass, by some weird strange way - Israel would have cornered herself into a box that only God could help get her out of.

Very stupid. Very very stupid.

[shira]

15. It will never happen. At most they annex land where 3-5% of all Palestinians in the WB live. NT

[holdencaufield]

16. Imagine...

...if Israel DID annex the West Bank. They'd be accepting defacto RoR. Adding 2 million Palestinians from the West Bank to the Israeli population raises the Arab population of Israel from 25% to over 40%. Anyone still think this is a serious gesture?

(I expect at least one response to this post will accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing or mass deportations)

[mysuzuki2]

17. If Israel annexed the West Bank, they would have to give

the residents citizenship, would they not? They could then vote, right. I don't think Israel would want that. If the Palestinians on the West Bank were NOT given citizenship, it would be a horrible public relations disaster for Israel. That is why they will not do it. Actually, the best thing for the Palestinians might be annexation. In a few decades that might result in a de facto "single state" solution as the Palestinian population grew faster than the Jewish.

[Crunchy Frog]

18. And once they annex the West Bank, don't they have to accept

the entire population as citizens?

This seems like a recipe for the destruction of Israel as a "Jewish state", but if that's what they want...

[Ken Burch]

20. No....they can find some pretext to deny Palestinians Israeli citizenship

And the Bibi groupies here will defend them for doing it if it happens.

[holdencaufield]

22. You obviously no nothing about Israel

Israeli governments fluctuate between as conservative as America and as liberal as any in Europe. The Israeli judiciary is very liberal. There is NO WAY Israel could ever deny Palestinians Israeli citizenship once the first legal challenge hit the courts. Israeli Arabs have enjoyed full citizenship in Israel since it was created.

The PA, on the other hand, has ALREADY made if very clear that they don't intend to grant Palestinians citizenship to Palestinian Arabs living in refugee camps. If they did, they could no longer threaten Israel with RoR.

[Violet_Crumble]

27. What's that saying? Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?

Israeli Arabs have enjoyed full citizenship in Israel since it was created.

'Full citizenship' would mean all the same rights enjoyed by Israeli Jews, wouldn't it? Because unlike Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs lived under martial law for many years after Israel was created, Israeli Arabs were expelled from Israel during the same period, and their land was taken from them and made state land. Those totally draconian and discriminatory conditions were only lifted in 1966, so yr totally incorrect in claiming they had the full rights of citizenship since Israel was created in 1948...

[Shaktimaan]

24. well...

has israel been doing that so far wrt palestinians who reside in east jerusalem and apply for citizenship?

[Ken Burch]

26. There aren't enough East Jerusalem Palestinians to change the demographics

Also, do NOT assume that Palestinian applicants for Israeli citizenship are expressing their acceptance of the Occupation of the settlements-any more than black South Africans were endorsing apartheid by seeking the right to vote in South African elections.

[Shaktimaan]

29. Yes, they do...

provided they want to become citizens on a case by case basis.
Just like in EJ, I would suppose.

[Ken Burch]

19. It's things like this that prove, once again

That Palestinians have just as much reason to distrust Israeli intentions as the Israeli government ever had to distrust Palestinian intentions.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. I think it's nothing more than a big temper tantrum.

Much like a 5 year old who's threatening to run away from home.

The implications of such a move would be far too threatening to Israel for them to go for it for real.