Palestinian negotiators are expressing extreme concern today after reports emerged that the Israeli cabinet plans to adopt the bulk of the Levy Report from this Summer, in particular legalizing a large number of illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu had originally tried to bury the Levy Report as too diplomatically volatile after it announced that Israel had occupied the West Bank so long it wasn’t really an occupation anymore, and urged the government to just legalize all settlements and unilaterally declare that the West Bank is part of Israel.
Netanyahu was forced to revive the report because of demands from pro-settler groups seen key in the early election, fearing they would back more hawkish parties. Now they intend to push through the practical matters of the report, the legalization of settlements, and simply ignore the annexation parts for now.
But is this a distinction without a difference? The PLO seems to think so, and is blasting the plan as “de facto annexation,” cautioning it formalizes the West Bank into a system of apartheid and would only inflame tensions. Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz defended the move, saying that affirmed the right to continue to expand West Bank settlements, while insisting Israel would never “annex the Palestinian population” living there.
"GOD BLESS AMERICA"
In the meantime, everybody else is busy foaming at the mouth over Iran's imaginary nukes.
If the Levy report did indeed conclude that the "occupation " had lasted too long to any longer be considered an occupation rather than annexation, then adoption by the cabinet is very good news for the Palestinians. The reality does not change. We all knew that Israel has annexed the West Bank, that it is under Israeli sovereign control, that the two state solution is dead. Now the Israelies admit it to the world. They can no longer claim Israel is the Middle East's only democracy when half of it's population is disenfranchised.
Bring on boycott, divestiture and sanctions! The Israeli government will no longer have any excuses for denying full citizenship for all Arab residents. It's not even logical from their own internal point of view. After all, what's the logical difference between an Arab from Nazareth and an Arab from Jenin if both Nazareth and Jenin are now officially part of Israel?