"Privacy" can only be maintained for so long, and Israel may have reached a tipping point recently with the plan for annexation of Area C:
"Under international law, Israels rule in the West Bank and Gaza is considered 'belligerent occupation' and, therefore, its actions must be justified by military necessity only.
"If there is no occupation, Israel has no military grounds to hold on to the territories.
"In that case, it must either return the land to the Palestinians, and move out the settlers, or defy international law by annexing the territories, as it did earlier with East Jerusalem, and establish a state of Greater Israel.
"Annexation, however, poses its own dangers. Israel must either offer the Palestinians citizenship and wait for a non-Jewish majority to emerge in Greater Israel; or deny them citizenship and face pariah status as an apartheid state.
"Just such concerns were raised on Sunday by 40 Jewish leaders in the United States, who called on Netanyahu to reject Levys 'legal maneuverings' that, they said, threatened Israels 'future as a Jewish and democratic state'.
"But from Israels point of view, there may, in fact, be a way out of this conundrum... "
Israel's Annexation Plan
"Under international law, Israels rule in the West Bank and Gaza is considered 'belligerent occupation' and, therefore, its actions must be justified by military necessity only.
"If there is no occupation, Israel has no military grounds to hold on to the territories.
"In that case, it must either return the land to the Palestinians, and move out the settlers, or defy international law by annexing the territories, as it did earlier with East Jerusalem, and establish a state of Greater Israel.
"Annexation, however, poses its own dangers. Israel must either offer the Palestinians citizenship and wait for a non-Jewish majority to emerge in Greater Israel; or deny them citizenship and face pariah status as an apartheid state.
"Just such concerns were raised on Sunday by 40 Jewish leaders in the United States, who called on Netanyahu to reject Levys 'legal maneuverings' that, they said, threatened Israels 'future as a Jewish and democratic state'.
"But from Israels point of view, there may, in fact, be a way out of this conundrum... "
Israel's Annexation Plan
