Will Israel Annex the West Bank?

Israel is “seriously debating the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank,” Axios reported August 31. According to sources “with direct knowledge,” this is in response to Western countries intending to recognize a Palestinian state. Whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu follows through depends on his American counterpart, Donald Trump. United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Axios that Trump hasn’t decided whether to support the move or not.

According to Axios, a “European official” said Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron that Israel would annex all of the West Bank’s “Area C” if France recognized a Palestinian state. Area C is under Israeli civil governance and is the home of hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers. Annexing Area C would place 60 percent of the West Bank within Israel proper. Two U.S. officials told Axios that “it seems unlikely that the [Trump] administration will endorse [full] annexation.” But Netanyahu may still try to annex Area C’s Israeli settlements.

The Israeli government may already be working toward this end. On August 20, Israel approved the E1 expansion program. E1 is a corridor of land east of Jerusalem and home to the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. The expansion would add 3,400 housing units and bisect the West Bank between Arab districts in the north and south. U.S. pressure has stalled the project for two decades, but it looks like that pressure has lessened. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said with E1’s expansion, a two-state solution “is being erased from the table.”

European sources speaking to Axios indicated Europe might further sanction Israel if it annexed land. The United Kingdom and Belgium have already placed sanctions on Israel for its war in Gaza.

Why Now?

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas, Israel has been actively engaged in war in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran. But aside from a handful of operations, not much is different from those Israel has conducted for years. Of all the fronts on Israel’s war on terrorism, the West Bank may have been the quietest. This is changing.

France started the recent trend with Macron’s July 24 announcement recognizing a state of Palestine. The UK, Canada, Australia and Belgium followed suit. Israel may have been content to keep the status quo, but France has forced Israel’s hand.

Annexation wouldn’t go well with the region’s over 2.5 million Arab residents. The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah claims all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Cities like Nablus and Jenin are essentially run by Hamas and other groups as anarchic terrorist communes. Israeli military intelligence estimates Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre has about 59 percent approval among the West Bank’s general populace.

Israel may be close to vanquishing Hamas in Gaza, but the West Bank remains a much larger powder keg much closer to Israel’s major cities. If the West Bank Arabs ever became motivated to rise up and attack Israel, it would be a bigger catastrophe for Israel than anything from Gaza.

Future Chaos?

The Bible predicts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to become even more violent. Instead of Gaza, the nexus will be the West Bank—specifically, the area bordering Jerusalem.

A prophecy in Zechariah 14 states: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (verses 1-2).

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in Jerusalem in Prophecy, “The subject is the Day of the Lord—the end time. This whole book is focused on the latter days. … One half of Jerusalem is to be taken captive. Notice how specific this prophecy is. East Jerusalem—one half of the city—will be conquered by the Palestinians!”

He continues:

The nation of Israel was established in 1948. At that time the Jews had only roughly one half of Jerusalem. The Arabs had East Jerusalem. Zechariah 14 is also a prophecy that the Jews would conquer all Jerusalem, because in order for half the city to be taken just before Christ returns, the whole city must be controlled by the Jews just before that time! The Jews did take full control in the 1967 war.

So the prophecy in Zechariah 14:1-2, which has not yet been fulfilled, has to happen between 1967 and the Great Tribulation. Jerusalem is going to be totally captured in the Tribulation (Revelation 11:1-3). Many prophecies tell us that.

Today the Arabs live in roughly one half of Jerusalem. They just don’t control it—yet. When such an attack occurs, the Jews couldn’t effectively drop bombs, especially nuclear bombs, on one half of their own city.

Looking at the ongoing violence in Jerusalem today—the absolute inability of the involved parties to solve things by peaceful means—we can easily see how one half of Jerusalem shall be taken captive in the very near future. The present violence is an embryo that is about to explode into much greater violence. That is the critical event prophesied in Zechariah 14:2.

When you see the world become increasingly tense and intransigent about who controls the land right next to Jerusalem, keep your eyes open for events to lead to Zechariah 14. To learn more, request a free copy of Jerusalem in Prophecy.