Sept. 5—Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who likes to be known as the de facto “governor” of the West Bank, has unveiled a plan to annex 82% of the West Bank and squeeze the Palestinian population into the remaining 18%. Under the proposal, only six isolated enclaves—where major Palestinian cities, such as Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, and Hebron are located—would remain outside of Israeli control, Middle East Eye reported yesterday. All other areas, including dozens of towns and villages, would be formally annexed. Smotrich described the principle behind the plan as taking control of “maximum land with minimum [Palestinian] population.”

“Judea and Samaria,” as Israel terms the West Bank, “are not disputed territory; they are the inheritance of our ancestors for generations,” Smotrich claimed. “There will never, and can never be, a Palestinian state in our land.”

Meanwhile, Smotrich's co-evil lunatic twin National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has been offering plans for the annexation of parts of "liberated" Gaza, in the area of what is now Gaza City, but is rapidly becoming a flattened pile of rubble, as Israel plans its occupation and to drive out or slaughter it's more than a million Palestinians. Ben-Gvir has called for Israeli settlement of the area, a call supported by the fascist settler's movement.

Sources close to the White House say that President Donald Trump strongly opposes both annexation and settlement, as it forecloses discussion of the future of Palestine. While none of these plans have the formal backing of the government of the Butcher of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, they would foreclose on the possibility of a Palestinian state, which Bibi opposes. Trump has said that the decision on the future of Palestine must be left to the Palestinian people, in discussion with Israel and not imposed from without.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has strongly opposed statements by the French and President Emmanual Macron and other European leaders that they will recognize a Palestinian State as ruled by the Palestinian Authority later this month during the UN General Assembly session, He repeated his warning yesterday while in Quito, Ecuador, stating, "We told all these countries, we told them all, we said if you guys do this recognition stuff it's all fake, it's not even real, if you do it you're going to create problems...There's going to be a response, it's going to make it harder to get a ceasefire and it may even trigger these sorts of actions that you've seen, or at least these attempts at these actions." He was referring to the talk of annexation, which he said, no decision has been made by Israel, but they being pushed in that direction."

Sources close the White House felt obligated to restate that the U.S. does not support annexation, and that it wants an immediate end to the war in Gaza and on the West Bank, the return of all hostages held by Hamas, and an end to the humanitarian crisis created by Israel's actions. These sources say that Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are working on a plan that would do these things, and that Hamas has already agreed to its terms, but that Bibi is holding back. "That is where the pressure needs to be applied for a settlement now, an end to the war and release of all hostages," said a source. "Ultimately all the screws need to be turned on Bibi. Cut off U.S. military aid, put economic sanctions on Israel if necessary. That's more effective than calling for recognition of a Palestine that is not ruled by a leadership that all people agree with, and which has no economic viability."

Meanwhile, any move towards annexation, and possibly the launching of the full occupation of Gaza will doom any possible continuing collaboration between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Sources report that it were likely than an annexation would trigger the collapse of the Al-Sisi government in Egypt. The United Arab Emirates has warned that annexation and the occupation of Gaza would all but end the so-called Abraham Accords, by which Trump had proposed to move the region towards normalized relations with Israel.