The 2020 Annexation Plans of the West Bank began under a crisis on August 8, 2019, when the murder of an 18-year-old off-duty Israeli soldier was stabbed to death by Palestinians near an illegal settlement in the West Bank. This sparked outcries for Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and his government to begin annexing the West Bank. This was a moment many said that Netanyahu had been waiting for. Shortly after the murder, Netanyahu was “speaking at a ceremony in the Beit El settlement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to continue building settlements and ‘deepen our roots in our homeland.’”¹ The idea of annexing the West Bank was a seed planted in Netanyahu’s mind after he watched Russia annex Crimea in 2014. This inspired Netanyahu’s idea for annexing the West Bank and he knew he could do so with the support from his government and the many Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank. To make this plan work, Benjamin Netanyahu needed a President of the United States who would look past the Palestinian people’s suffering and support the expansion of the state of Israel and its illegal settlements.

That President was finally found in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected. At this moment, Benjamin Netanyahu knew he was going to be able to begin what he and his government had wanted all along. He knew Donald Trump had ties to the state of Israel through his stepson, Jared Kushner, who had been Senior Advisor to Trump and who was someone who had stacks and potential financial gain from the expansion of the state of Israel and its illegal settlements in the West Bank. But the question to be asked was, was this decision to begin partially annexing the West Bank going to benefit Netanyahu, or was it something that would turn the region into further turmoil? Netanyahu, being a member of the right-wing government and a proud Zionist, had one thing in mind, and he knew exactly what he wanted and how it would be done. However, this is not exactly something unknown in this region. A slow-moving annexation has been going on for a long time in the West Bank and in other territories by the State of Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. Netanyahu and his government have been fueled by political motivations, historical movements, and unwavering support from their allies. However, international law and foreign relations with Arab states have posed a challenge for Netanyahu. Furthermore, we will look closely at President Trump and his stepson Jared Kushner’s relations with Netanyahu and his government. Finally, diving into that roadblock, Netanyahu has faced the 2020 annexation plans and taken a closer look at how they have been reignited in the West Bank in 2025 under President Trump’s reelection.¹

To fully understand the reasoning behind the annexation plans of the West Bank, we need to go back in history to the event known as the Six Day War. This war happened in 1967, when the surrounding Arab states attacked Israel with the support of many others. Gaza and the West Bank, remember, are only 19 years old as a country at this time. Israel defeated the attack by the Arab states and rapidly took over the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan. Now, with the signing of the Camp David accords, “Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty, which was signed in March 1979 and decided the future of the Sinai Peninsula. The Sinai was returned to Egypt by Israel.”³ This treaty, while it has lasted for many years, may one day come to end with tension once again on the rise in the region. However, Israel has yet to form any sort of resolution to the other territories it took in 1967. One of the closest times for the Palestinian people to become its own state for Gaza and West Bank was the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Since then, many other attempts have been made to establish a two-state resolution in the region between Israel and Palestine, but none of them have ever been officially accepted.

To this day, a two-state resolution has not been made possible, but still, many have tried and continue to push for the establishment of the Palestinian state. However, the increasing number of illegal settlements in the West Bank since 1967 has made things far more challenging to achieve such a dream, a dream many believe would provide the region with peace that it has never seen since the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. This slow trickle effect of expanding illegal settlements in the West Bank would be one of many components that would help fuel Netanyahu’s 2020 annexation plans of the West Bank and successful annexation of the Golan Heights.⁴

Secondly, to understand Netanyahu’s 2020 annexation plan of the West Bank, it would be important to analyze the difference between annexation and occupation under international law. Annexation was something that was once accepted in the time of World War II by the international community. However, since that time, annexation has come under major criticism from the international community and its legal system, saying that annexation defeats the right to self-determination of a people, which is a direct violation of international law. Since 1967, no territory of the illegal settlements that have formed in the West Bank have not and will not ever be recognized as officially territories of the state of Israel due to its violations of the impact of self-determination, which in accordance with international law, the Palestinian people have a right to.⁵

Now, what is an occupation, then?  According to the Hague, “when placing a territory under belligerent occupation, the occupant has the duty to ‘take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.’ The occupant is forbidden from exploiting the resources of the land for its own interests and from transferring populations and instituting other permanent changes. Furthermore, the law of occupation absolutely prohibits the naturalization of inhabitants of the occupied territory as citizens of the occupant state.”⁶ With that being said, both annexation and occupation from the view of Israel are illegal under international law in which we will see under the 2020 annexation plans of the West Bank.

To gain a better understanding of Netanyahu and his 2020 annexation plan of the West Bank, we must look at interior motives that drive Netanyahu and his Zionist belief that consists of a, according to British writer Handleman Smith, “dream of a ‘Greater Israel’ (Eretz Israel Ha’Shelema, as it is called in Hebrew) coming from the political ideology of the Zionist revisionist movement, the ‘mother’ of the governing Likud party headed by Netanyahu. The revisionist-Zionist party’s national anthem, written by mythological leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who said ‘Two Banks to the Jordan’ signification to the lands comprising the Israel and Jordan States of today will be one,’ which he calls “Greater Israel.”⁷ Netanyahu sees this as a reasoning in accordance with the biblical text of a greater Israel, further driving him to believe in the justification for annexing the West Bank. With all that being said, Netanyahu is also facing immense pressure due to him being, according to Makovsky from the Washington Post, “politically indebted to the Israeli right-wing, as they took his side on three corruption charges in his court.”⁷ With this amount of pressure, Netanyahu has no choice but to continue falling in line with the far right-wing ideology of the Israeli government.

With that being said, who is the true voice of the Israeli right-wing government? Is it the people who live in Tel Aviv, or is it the right-wing government fueled by people who have a firm belief in the Zionist ideology? Well, as one may imagine, it is, according to Makovsky from the Washington Post, “the settlers got a stronger voice from an emboldened Israeli right-wing. Around 466,000 Israeli settlers now reside in the West Bank. They are now united with the more ideological settlers who opposed the two-state solution and supported the annexation.”⁷ With all this adding fuel to Netanyahu’s 2020 annexation plan of the West Bank, how can he possibly go ahead with annexing the West Bank if in accordance with international law, annexing and/or occupying a territory in such a way that Israel has been doing is illegal under international law?

The answer is simple: hope to get a President of the United States who has the same mindset as Netanyahu himself, and he received just that, President Donald J. Trump. According to Efraim from the Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security, “In a Stunning reversal of decades of U.S. policy, the Trump Administration moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, cementing its December 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Then, in March 2019, President Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights. The combination of these two acts of approval led Israeli leaders to believe they now have justification and support from the United States to annex parts of the West Bank.”¹⁰ This has now driven Netanyahu’s plans for annexing the West Bank to full speed ahead, knowing he has full support and free rein to do what he wants under President Trump.

So, what is next? Israel has its eyes set on territory in the West Bank east of the Jordan River. The territory has, according to Magid from The Times of Israel, “Thirteen of Palestinian Villages; around 80,000 peoples live in the Jordan Valley that will become enclaves surrounded by new Israeli borders.”¹¹ That’s a lot of villages and territory for Israel to take over, and it has not had the support for such a plan from the U.S. President until now. While Israel claims this territory is valuable in the sense of security, it has claimed this so-called name of security and almost every major historical event it has made since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. This claim and the state of Israel’s action seemed to never change even when it was illegal under the accordance of international law.

So, the question comes out yet again: will Trump truly support such actions by Israel taking over the Jordan Valley? Well, the answer to that question is seen by the actions of Netanyahu himself when he “spoke on his policy regarding the West Bank: ‘I will ensure that we’ll control all the area West of the Jordan [R]iver. Will we move to the next stage? The answer is yes, we will move to the next stage—to the gradual extension of Israeli sovereignty in [the West Bank].'”¹²

These were strong and precise words from the Prime minister of Israel, but this was only just the beginning of what would later come from Washington. According to Foreign Policy news agency and Garey from Business Insider, “On January 28, 2020-ten days after the U.S. House of Representatives impeached him, and facing a trial in the U.S. Senate-President Trump unveiled his long-awaited ‘deal of the century’–a Middle East peace plan authored by the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump’s plan proposes to shrink the amount of territory in the West Bank left for a future Palestinian state by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan River Valley, giving Israel the green light to annex.”¹³ The support Netanyahu and his government have been looking for, knowing that by receiving such support it did not matter what the international law says, nor did it matter the international world’s outcry on such events. All they need is one hundred percent backing from the leader of the most powerful country in the world. President Trump was and still is that man Israel needs. However, a situation and a tough decision were on the horizon that would challenge Netanyahu’s will to go ahead with his annexation plans of the West Bank.

While Trump was unwavering in his support for annexing the West Bank, a new challenge and opportunity has arisen that would change the playing field and challenge Israel’s momentum into annexing the West Bank. Trump and his senior advisor and stepson Jared Kushner would announce its creation of the Abraham Accords, which would consist of multiple Arab states normalizing ties with the State of Israel. However, before this plan went into place, Israel was faced with an ultimatum: accept the Abraham Accords and what the Arab states were requesting or go ahead and annex the West Bank. But before we look at the ultimatum, we must look at the Arab states involved in the Abraham Accords and what they are worried about for the reasoning behind their supporting ties with the State of Israel. There were three main players in the Abraham Accords that each had a similar thing in common. According to Khan from ProQuest book review, “Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have a major enemy in the region: Iran. They want to counter Iran, and for that matter, Israel is the only powerful state that can help them.”¹⁴ However, while their major enemy in the region is a strong motivator for them to sign the Abraham Accords, the United Arab Emirates wanted insurance from Israel to halt the expansion of annexation in the West Bank. It was a decision that would change Netanyahu’s 2020 annexation plans for the West Bank for the time being. This marked a pause in what was seen by the international world as an illegal movement in the West Bank.

Now, who led the push toward the Abraham Accords? His name is Jared Kushner. You may remember me mentioning him a few times, but to find out who he truly is and why he has always had such a close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, we must analyze the stakes that he has in Israel itself. Kushner was the bridge between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, a bridge that brought hope for the Prime minister that he finally had a U.S. President who would ignore international law and overlook the daily struggles of the Palestinian people, someone who sees the same image of a greater Israel as himself. But why was Trump that President? The answer, Jared Kushner. Trump had ties to the Kushner family long before he took office and even before Jared Kushner married Ivanka Trump. According to Emma Green from The Atlantic, “Donald Trump’s pro-Israel stance is his association with the Kushner family, who are also staunch supporters of Israel. Working with the Kushner’s in the New York real estate business, the Trump and Kushner families grew close. What solidified the relationship between the two was the marriage of Donald’s daughter Ivanka to Jared Kushner. Ivanka converted to Judaism in 2009, when she married Jared.”¹⁵ With that being said, not only are the Kushner family strong supporters of the state of Israel’s actions, but also a strong link between the family and AIPAC, a powerful organization within the walls of American politics, an organization that Benjamin Netanyahu and his government relies on to help push support for its far-right-wing government and its intentions into the ideology of a greater Israel.

This would go on to build a friendship that would continue to strengthen over time. According to Kantor from the New York Times, “President Trump has long deferred to his son-in-law Jared on Middle Eastern affairs. Jared helped write the AIPAC speech and was essential in arranging meetings between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.”¹⁵ This would later form a relationship that was unbreakable in support of the Netanyahu government, a relationship he has long waited for. But why and how was the Kushner family so interconnected to the right-wing government of Netanyahu and the state of Israel?

The question to be asked is, how would annexing become possible? Well, this leads back to the actions of Jared Kushner’s father who, according to Kantor from the New York Times, “donated millions of dollars from their real estate fortune to a myriad of Jewish and Israeli causes, such as hospitals, schools, and settlements.”¹⁵ Yes, Kushner’s family not only supported Benjamin Netanyahu and his slow creeping annexation of the West Bank, but also financially invested in its settlements, which are deemed illegal in accordance with international law. But this is where it gets interesting. One may wonder, what’s in it for them? Why would they support such actions and such a far-right government? Well, this leads back to Jared Kushner once again. According to Kranish from the Washington Post, “Jared has had extensive financial dealings with Israelis. Reports suggest that the Kushner real estate business operates a line of credit worth up to $25 million with Israeli banks. The company also receives investments from Israeli businessmen upwards of tens of millions of dollars. Kushner has bought and refinanced Israeli properties in New York City for hundreds of millions of dollars.”¹⁵.

Furthermore, according to Maltz from the Haaretz, “Finally, Jared and the Kushner family have been reliable donors to the Friends of the Israeli Defense Force (FIDF) organization.”¹⁹ Now it’s all starting to make sense. Netanyahu had someone with not only family connection to the President but also someone who would in turn be the senior advisor to President Trump, influencing his policy towards a greater Israel. This would not stop there. While Jared Kushner does have a direct link to the State of Israel and is receiving foreign income as an individual working in the White House, it becomes much deeper when we jump to 2025 for the annexation of the West Bank yet again rebuts into full swing under President Trump’s reelection.

While the 2020 annexation plans would come to a halt with the formation of the Abraham Accords, it would not come to an end for Benjamin Netanyahu to achieve what he and his far-right-wing government so desperately wanted: to annex the entirety of the West Bank and implement its own sovereignty over the Palestinian people, making a two-state solution impossible for the Palestinian people ever to have the rightful dignity in a land in which they have inhabited for well over a thousand years. The dream and opportunity of the Israeli government would become possible yet again after the attacks on October 7, 2023, which have devastated Gaza and left the innocents paying the price for the actions of a few. The international world has viewed the actions of the state of Israel as war crimes and crimes against humanity, as a form of collective punishment in which the Palestinian people have endured for many decades under the occupation of Israel. This new war would create an opportunity to expand its settlements in the West Bank towards an annexation process that has not left the motivations behind the Israeli right-wing government led by Netanyahu. While under President Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu was receiving forms of restraint as Biden tried to control the overall rampage of the Israeli government by implementing sanctions on 33 different settlements in the West Bank. However, Benjamin Netanyahu would receive the leader of the free world he needs to continue with what he has started. That would become true for him and his far-right-wing government when President Donald Trump was reelected for his second term as President of the United States. Shortly after sworn in for his second term, according to Bloxham for Taylor and Francis online, “Trump’s lifting of sanctions on certain settlers and the enhanced military activity in the West Bank since the Gaza ceasefire point to an acceleration of ethnic cleansing and colonization that contradicts any supposed aspiration for peace among Israel’s leaders.”²⁰ These sanctions that Trump lifted were sanctions implemented under the Biden administration that were in place to stop the growing violence in the West Bank. With the lifting of these sanctions, one may ask why?

Right before these sanctions were released, something interesting occurred that did not catch the American eye. Donald Trump’s stepson, according to Sales from Israel National News, “Jared Kushner is set to double his investment firm’s stake in one of Israel’s leading financial firms, just days before his father-in-law, US President-elect Donald Trump, will return to the White House.”²¹ This is the same company that mentioned above the Jared Kushner direct link to Israel maybe concerning to some, especially since many were so concerned about Hunter Biden receiving income from a foreign entity.

Well, what gets even more concerning is that Jared Kushner’s stakes in affinity partners has set, according to Brewster and Schwenk from Jacobin, “Trump’s former top Middle East adviser and family member is poised to benefit from expanding settlement efforts in Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation, which are illegal under international law and are driving mounting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”²² Furthermore, Trump has also invited Prime Minister Netanyahu as the first foreign leader to visit him after his inauguration in his second term. This goes to show the alliance and friendship Trump and his family have with Netanyahu and his far-right government. 

To conclude, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his far-right-wing government have not fully achieved the annexing of the West Bank in 2020. However, they have been given another golden opportunity to do so under President Donald Trump’s second term. From the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 to the Six-Day War in 1967, the Palestinian people have been faced with great suffering. They desperately search for their own rightful dignity under the occupation from the state of Israel, a dignity that many say may never be fully achieved if America does not adjust its policies and continues to fail to uphold the international criminal court of justice and international law, which has continually shown that many if not all actions performed by the state of Israel are illegal under international law. As Israel continues to justify their action in the name of security, we see that ties that link Trump and his family to Netanyahu and his far-right-wing government could be the motivators that are driving Israel to achieve full annexation of the West Bank. There’s a saying many have: follow the money, and you will see the truth. This has begun to look like ethnic cleansing with profitable gain set in place for both Netanyahu’s government and President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The real question is will there be another form of the Abraham Accords that come in and stop the illegal expansion of the State of Israel with Arab countries demanding a two-state solution and an immediate halt in the expansion of the illegal settlements in the West Bank, or will Israel and President Trump go all in and fully annex the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians no hope to any freedom whatsoever, which in return would lead to 21st century ethnic cleansing of an entire people for financial gain and economic expansion.