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Official Says Israel Can’t Annex Large Parts of West Bank

The Jewish community of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc with the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the background, January 28, 2020. Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
The Jewish community of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc with the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the background, January 28, 2020. Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
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Official Says Israel Can’t Annex Large Parts of West Bank

The Jewish community of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc with the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the background, January 28, 2020. Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
The Jewish community of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc with the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the background, January 28, 2020. Reuters/Ronen Zvulun

Outgoing Defense Ministry director-general Udi Adam said that Israel cannot unilaterally annex large areas of the West Bank.

Annexation has become less urgent amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he stressed.

His comments came as Zionist Organization of America National President Morton Klein was informed by senior White House officials that "the American window for deciding on the matter of Israeli sovereignty is between a month and 45 days."

Klein stated that "applying sovereignty is the most rational, humane and security-driven decision, which is reinforced by the Bible. It gives Israel defensible borders instead of the 'thin waist' it has now and brings stability and normalcy to the lives of 500,000 Jews who currently reside in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley."

A classified document that the Israeli delegation to the European Union forwarded to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on EU’s reaction to sovereignty predicts that should it go ahead, the Europeans will immediately boycott diplomatic visits.

Israel’s former ambassador to the EU, Oded Eran, and former Israeli ambassador to Germany Shimon Stein have also raised the alarm about the worsening situation in Israeli-EU relations, saying that “declaring the application of sovereignty will bring condemnation and possibly even punishments.”

In a report published by Bloomberg, journalist Zev Chafets wrote that “there’s at least a strong possibility that after four years of a beautiful partnership Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could soon be facing life without Donald Trump.”

“While many of the US other allies might find that a cause for relief, for Bibi the reaction is likely to be more complicated. Trump has lavished priceless gifts on Bibi -- the Golan Heights, a US embassy relocation to Jerusalem and permission to wage covert war against Iran.”

Chafets said “Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal at Netanyahu’s urging and adopted Netanyahu’s design for a Palestinian mini-state in the West Bank. He even named the plan after himself.”

“In the last three Israeli electoral campaigns, Trump worked hard to keep Bibi in office. Now it is Trump who is running for re-election. The president fully expects Bibi to reciprocate,” he added.

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Arab World

‘War Ruined Me’: Lebanon’s Farmers Mourn Lost Season

This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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‘War Ruined Me’: Lebanon’s Farmers Mourn Lost Season

This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This photo shows burnt agricultural fields that were hit during Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun, on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

Lebanese farmer Abu Taleb briefly returned to his orchard last month to salvage an avocado harvest but ran away empty handed as soon as Israeli air raids began.

"The war broke out just before the first harvest season," said Abu Taleb, displaced from the village of Tayr Debba near the southern city Tyre.

"When I went back in mid-October, it was deserted... it was scary," said the father of two, who is now sheltering in Tripoli more than 160 kilometers to the north and asked to be identified by a pseudonym because of security concerns.

Abu Taleb said his harvesting attempt was interrupted by an Israeli raid on the neighboring town of Markaba.

He was forced back to Tripoli without the avocados he usually exports every year.

Agricultural regions in Lebanon have been caught in the crossfire since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ramped up in October last year, a full-scale war breaking out on September 23.

The UN's agriculture agency, FAO, said more than 1,909 hectares of farmland in south Lebanon had been damaged or left unharvested between October last year and September 28.

The conflict has also displaced more than half a million people, including farmers who abandoned their crops just when they were ready to harvest.

Hani Saad had to abandon 120 hectares of farmland in the southern region of Nabatiyeh, which is rich in citrus and avocado plantations.

"If the ceasefire takes place within a month, I can save the harvest, otherwise, the whole season is ruined," said Saad who has been displaced to the coastal city of Jounieh, north of Beirut.

When an Israeli strike sparked a fire in one of Saad's orchards, he had to pay out of his own pocket for the fuel of the fire engine that extinguished the blaze.

His employees, meanwhile, have fled. Of 32 workers, 28 have left, mainly to neighboring Syria.

- 'Worst phase' -

Israeli strikes have put at least two land crossings with Syria out of service, blocking a key export route for produce and crops.

Airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon as insurance costs soar.

This has dealt a deadly blow to agricultural exports, most of which are destined for Gulf Arab states.

Fruit exporter Chadi Kaadan said exports to the Gulf have dropped by more than 50 percent.

The supply surplus in the local market has caused prices to plummet at home, he added.

"In the end, it is the farmer who loses," said Saad who used to earn $5,000 a day before the war started. Today, he barely manages $300.

While avocados can stay on the tree for months, they are starting to run out of water following Israeli strikes on irrigation channels, Saad said.

Citrus fruits and cherimoyas have already started to fall.

"The war has ruined me. I spend my time in front of the TV waiting for a ceasefire so I can return to my livelihood," Saad told AFP.

Gaby Hage, a resident of the Christian town of Rmeish, on the border with Israel, is one of the few farmers who decided to stay in south Lebanon.

He has only been able to harvest 100 of his 350 olive trees, which were left untended for a year because of cross-border strikes.

"I took advantage of a slight lull in the fighting to pick what I could," he told AFP.

Hage said agriculture was a lifeline for the inhabitants of his town, which has been cut off by the war.

Ibrahim Tarchichi, president of the farmers' union in the Bekaa Valley, which was hit hard by the strikes, believes that agriculture in Lebanon is going through the "worst phase" of its recent history.

"I have experienced four wars, it has never been this serious," he said.