What Happens When Israel Annexes the West Bank?
Annelle Sheline joins to talk about the chaos about to be unleashed on the region
Subscribe on Spotify to listen to the show on the go!
For the Palestinians in Israel, conditions keep getting worse. In Gaza, the official death toll is now over 45,000, the vast majority civilians. This cannot take into account bodies still under the rubble, which covers the landscape of the two-mile strip. Thousands are displaced and without food, orphaned, and struggling for healthcare as none of the hospitals in Gaza are working at full capacity today.
In the West Bank, the situation is reaching a critical juncture. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far right government is now talking openly about fully annexing the territory. Right now there are some 670,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank – settlements that are considered illegal under international law. But the settlements keep expanding even as the U.S. has warned against them.
Now hawkish Republican voices in the U.S., even those in Donald Trump’s inner circle, have suggested support for a complete annexation of the territory, which now houses some 2.7 million Palestinians, many of whom have been brutally attacked by extremist settlers in the last several years, particularly after Oct 7, 2023. Where will they go if they are squeezed out of their homes and villages?
My guest Annelle Sheline, who is a Middle East fellow at the Quincy Institute, just published a new report on Jordan amid the turmoil, and an article this week at Responsible Statecraft that talks about how millions of refugees could be headed for Jordan and it could spell the end of the Hastemite monarchy if and when the West Bank is annexed.
More from Annelle Sheline:
Jordan braces as Israeli annexation of West Bank looms