TEHRAN – In a another yet troubling move and amid the ongoing Gaza genocide, the Israeli regime’s Knesset has overwhelmingly approved a motion of declaration to annex the occupied West Bank, signaling a renewed commitment to a colonialist and expansionist agenda. 

Despite being branded unbinding, with 71 votes in favor and only 13 against, the regime’s parliament has thrown its weight behind a policy that blatantly disregards international law and further entrenches its decades-long occupation of the Palestinian land.

The motion, which calls for the application of “Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria”, a biblical terminology used to assert historic claims over the West Bank, reflects the ideological thrust of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition. 

The motion also calls for the annexation of the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, which borders the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

In a statement, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said Amman “condemns in the strongest terms the Knesset’s vote on a declaration supporting Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.”

In a post on social media, Hussein al-Sheikh, vice president of the Palestinian Authority, also said the measure “represents not only a direct assault on the rights of the Palestinian people but also a dangerous escalation that undermines the prospects for peace, stability and the two-state solution based on negotiation, which enforces and protects regional security.”

This development is not merely symbolic; it is part of a broader pattern of settler-colonial practices that have defined Israeli occupation actions in Palestine since 1947. The West Bank has been under illegal occupation since 1967.

Hamas also said, “The vote by the Zionist occupation’s Knesset on a draft resolution to impose sovereignty over the occupied West Bank in preparation for annexation is null and void, has no legitimacy, and will not alter the identity of Palestinian land.”

The Palestinian resistance movement called on Palestinians in the West Bank to “escalate resistance in all its forms to thwart the projects of the fascist Zionist occupation.”

Also, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, strongly condemned the Knesset’s vote, stating the move is part of a broader plan to impose a new reality on the ground. 
He emphasized that these actions are unacceptable under international law. Gheit reaffirmed that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is internationally recognized as occupied territory. 

The timing of the vote adds another layer of gravity. As the world bears witness to ongoing starvation and heinous war crimes in Gaza, this new push for annexation reveals the Israeli regime’s broader strategy: the erasure of Palestinian national identity. 

The occupation regime’s actions in Gaza, marked by a genocidal policy, reflect another disturbing warning sign of similar systemic dispossession that would be escalated by the formal annexation of the West Bank.

In the West Bank, over three million Palestinians live under military occupation, with growing numbers of illegal Israeli settlers encroaching on their land. They are protected by a system that privileges settlers and criminalizes any form of resistance.

Annexation is not merely a legal maneuver; it is a colonial act aimed at permanently restructuring the demographic and political landscape of historic Palestine. It represents the formalization of apartheid policies that have long governed the occupied territories. 

With international law clearly defining the annexation of occupied land as illegal, the Knesset’s vote further isolates the Israeli regime from the international community, already disgusted by its actions in Gaza.

The symbolic bill is also a chilling reminder of the political climate within the regime, where far-right and openly fascist rhetoric has gained traction. Government ministers have made statements that echo Nazi ideology, dehumanizing Palestinians and advocating for total control over all historic Palestinian land. 

Such views are not confined to the margins; they are increasingly at the center of the regime’s policymaking.

What is unfolding today in both Gaza and the West Bank is not isolated calamity but part of a coherent settler-colonial strategy, rooted in land theft, forced displacement, and demographic change. 

As annexation rhetoric strongly risks turning into legislation, the world must confront the reality that colonialism in the 21st century is alive and well; and it is unfolding before our eyes in Palestine.