The Palestinians are caught between ‘waiting’ and ‘the possibility’ of annexation

International diplomacy has normalized delays to the detriment of populations concerned with accessing and implementing their legitimate political and legal rights.

By Ramona Wadi | Middle East Monitor |  Aug 4, 2020

‘While the international community is concerned with the ‘possibility’ of annexation…Israel is implementing its annexation scheme on the ground without any deterrence.’
— Hanan Ashrawi, PLO Executive Committee Member

While the Palestine Liberation Organisation has been calling upon the EU to step up from rhetoric to action regarding Israel’s forthcoming annexation of occupied West Bank territory, Europe’s Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell invited Israeli Defence Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to Brussels to meet with the bloc’s foreign ministers.

“While the international community is concerned with the ‘possibility’ of annexation,” said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi, “Israel is implementing its annexation scheme on the ground without any deterrence.” Israeli plans for further construction in East Jerusalem prompted Ashrawi’s comments, as EU politicians adopt activist tactics by abandoning their power to act both morally and politically and opting instead to write a “protest letter” to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

It would be perplexing to come to terms with the fact that such dismissive attitudes towards Palestinians and Palestine are not properly rejected by the Palestinian Authority, were it not for the fact that the PA itself is enamoured of futile pleas in place of political action.

The EU, meanwhile, is not adopting condescending attitudes towards Israel and its annexation plans. In his phone call with Ashkenazi, Borrell reiterated the EU’s “unequivocal commitment” to Israel’s security, which he described as “not negotiable for the EU”.

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