From Occupation to Annexation: Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing Continues

In a stark intensification of its ongoing occupation, Israel deployed tanks in the West Bank on Sunday, February 23, marking the first such maneuver in over two decades. This aggressive move forms part of a broader campaign of military escalation that has been unfolding since January, coinciding with the fragile ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

However, given the intrinsic nature of Israel’s longstanding policy of systematic violence and forced displacement in Gaza, any ceasefire remains a temporary and ultimately hollow gesture. Since launching its brutal military assault on the besieged Palestinian enclave in October 2023, Israel has officially taken the lives of at least 48,365 Palestinians, predominantly women and children. The real death toll is undoubtedly much higher. The onslaught has also resulted in the mass displacement of the majority of Gaza’s population, many of whom have been forced to flee multiple times.

Now, the devastation is extending even further. The Times of Israel reports that since January 21, more than 40,100 Palestinians residing in refugee camps across the West Bank, including in Jenin, have been forcibly displaced—the largest such exodus since the 1967 Six-Day War. On February 23, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the military to maintain an “extended presence” in these areas for at least a year, explicitly barring displaced residents from returning.

This ongoing process of systematic ethnic cleansing is unmistakably laying the groundwork for annexation—an enduring fantasy of Israel’s right-wing establishment. Such a flagrant violation of international law may soon receive explicit backing from none other than former U.S. President Donald Trump. In early February, Trump provocatively stated: “People do like the idea, but we haven’t taken a position on it yet.” His words signaled a disturbing openness to legitimizing Israel’s unlawful land grabs.

The very next day, following Israel’s deployment of tanks in the West Bank and Katz’s formal endorsement of forced displacement, the European Union proceeded with its 13th EU-Israel Association Council meeting in Brussels. Attended by representatives from all 27 EU member states and co-chaired by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the gathering provided a critical moment to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing war crimes. Yet, rather than confronting Israel’s egregious human rights violations, the EU reinforced its political and economic alliance with the occupying power.

Under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, Article 2 explicitly states that relations between both parties must be based on “respect for human rights and democratic principles.” In February 2024, leaders from Spain and Ireland invoked this article to call for a review of whether Israel was breaching its obligations. However, despite overwhelming evidence of Israel’s violations, the EU’s actions fell far short of meaningful accountability.

Instead of condemnation, the official EU-Israel Association Council pre-meeting document emphasized the EU’s unwavering commitment to maintaining “close relations” with Israel. Throughout the 28-page memorandum, the EU lavished Israel with praise, expressing its “full solidarity and support” while hailing Israel as a “key partner” for collaboration in multiple domains. The EU even professed enthusiasm about working with Israel to “address global challenges” and advance a “secure and just food system”—a particularly grotesque irony, given Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians in Gaza.

To be sure, the document does include some carefully worded criticisms of Israeli actions. It acknowledges “the unacceptable number of civilians, especially women and children, who have lost their lives” in Gaza. It also reiterates that “annexation is illegal under international law” and expresses concern over Israel’s widespread use of administrative detention and mass arrests of Palestinians without due process. Yet, these cursory acknowledgments are overwhelmingly overshadowed by the EU’s eagerness to maintain and even expand cooperation with Israel.

Furthermore, the memorandum paradoxically states that “the EU is gravely concerned that the occupation of the Palestinian territory that began in 1967 continues to this day” while simultaneously reaffirming its commitment to a two-state solution. The glaring contradiction at the heart of EU policy remains: how can an end to the occupation be envisioned when Israel—the very entity carrying out the occupation—is being embraced as an essential ally?

In Brussels, Israeli Foreign Minister Sa’ar staunchly defended Israel’s ongoing campaign of violence and mass displacement in the West Bank. He claimed that Israel’s military operations were solely aimed at “eliminating terrorists” and had “no other objectives.”

This rhetoric mirrors the longstanding Israeli strategy of invoking “counterterrorism” to justify its systemic persecution of Palestinians. In January, as Israel intensified its military campaign in the West Bank, Defense Minister Katz framed the assault as an extension of Israeli tactics in Gaza. He proclaimed that Jenin was being subjected to “a powerful operation to eliminate terrorists and terror infrastructure in the camp,” vowing to prevent any return to “terrorism” once the operation concluded. Such narratives serve to whitewash large-scale human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, home demolitions, and settler violence, all under the guise of security measures.

Yet, the reality on the ground tells a far different story. Israeli forces and settlers continue to perpetrate widespread violence against Palestinian civilians, with homes being bulldozed and entire families displaced. The so-called “anti-terror” operations function as a cover for advancing Israel’s overarching goal of demographic engineering—expelling Palestinian populations to solidify its control over the land.

Meanwhile, questions arise over what future plans the Israeli state and its international backers may have in store. Trump, never shy about his willingness to advance Israeli interests at the expense of Palestinian sovereignty, has already floated the idea of transforming Gaza into a luxurious “Riviera of the Middle East.” This proposal, should it materialize, would necessitate the complete removal of the native Palestinian population from the Strip—a modern rebranding of ethnic cleansing. One cannot help but wonder whether a similar colonial project will be envisioned for the West Bank, should the annexation agenda move forward unchallenged.

As Israel continues its campaign of mass slaughter, displacement, and occupation with impunity, its so-called “key partners” in the international community remain complicit through their silence and inaction. While periodic statements of “concern” are issued, they are immediately undermined by the reality of continued political, military, and economic support for Israel.

The normalization of these crimes against humanity is not merely an affront to Palestinian rights—it constitutes a broader failure of the international legal and political system. The global order, which claims to uphold human rights and justice, is instead reinforcing a regime of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and settler colonialism.

The question remains: when will the world finally hold Israel accountable? Or will genocide, ethnic cleansing, and systematic oppression continue to be treated as mere geopolitical footnotes in the pursuit of strategic alliances?

As history has shown, complicity in crimes against humanity does not merely stain the perpetrators—it taints all those who stand idly by, watching oppression unfold while doing nothing to stop it.