Israeli government applying ‘annexation’ in occupied West Bank, energy minister says

The Israeli government is effectively applying annexation on the ground in the occupied West Bank, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Monday, in defiance of international opposition.

Cohen, a member of Israel’s Security Cabinet, said that what is happening amounts to “applying sovereignty in practice,” using a term the Israeli government often employs to refer to annexation.

Cohen added on US social media company X that he reached an agreement with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan to connect new illegal settlements in the West Bank, including Homesh, Sa-Nur, Rehavam and Ebal, to electricity and water networks.

The Palestinian Authority has for decades called on the international community to halt Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories, with little success.

About 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in hundreds of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, including around 250,000 in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians report frequent attacks aimed at forcing displacement.

Since taking office in December 2022, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has accelerated settlement activity across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which the United Nations considers occupied Palestinian territory.

Violence has intensified in the West Bank since Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza began in October 2023, with Israeli forces and occupants killing at least 1,150 Palestinians, injuring about 11,750 and arresting nearly 22,000, according to Palestinian sources.

The escalation has also included the demolition of homes and infrastructure and the expansion of settlements, as Palestinians warn Israel is paving the way for the formal annexation of the West Bank, which would undermine prospects for a Palestinian state envisioned in UN resolutions.

*Writing by Lina Altawell