The Board of Peace can’t stabilize Gaza while Israel annexes the West Bank
Lior Amihai & Hadar Susskind — February 19, 2026
Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent NJN's views and policy positions.
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is about to convene for the first time in Washington, DC to press ahead on its goals of stabilizing the ceasefire in Gaza and defanging Hamas. As leaders in the Israeli and Jewish-American peace movement we worry that the Israeli government is trying to sabotage these goals by pressing ahead on annexation of the West Bank.
What happens in the West Bank does not stay in the West Bank; it is clearly linked to progress in Gaza. That’s why, during the diplomacy that led to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, President Trump unequivocally demanded that Israel not annex the West Bank. He was making a commitment that America’s regional partners needed to hear in order to support the ceasefire: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” the president said back in September. “I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen. It’s been enough. It is time to stop now.”
But since Trump’s declaration, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not slowed its efforts to advance annexation of the West Bank. If anything, annexation has accelerated.
Following Trump’s statement, the Israeli government adopted a series of sweeping measures designed to reshape the West Bank for decades to come. These are not symbolic steps. They concern land – its seizure, registration, expropriation, and settlement. In short, they are measures intended to eliminate any remaining territorial basis for a viable Palestinian state.
Consider the E1 plan. Last month, Israel started accepting bids for the construction of 3,401 housing units in the E1 corridor east of Jerusalem. The area is largely empty, aside from a police station, but it is widely regarded as the most strategically consequential settlement project in the West Bank. For years, US and European governments have opposed it because it would block the emergence of a Palestinian state.
E1 would create a wedge dividing the West Bank into northern and southern sections and cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Alongside the tender for construction bids, the military announced plans to seize land in order to pave what settlement supporters call the “Sovereignty Road” and critics term the “Apartheid Road.” Once completed, the highway would allow Israel to reroute Palestinian traffic, close existing routes, and move forward with construction – effectively annexing three percent of the West Bank.
The E1 plan is only one project rapidly moving forward. Another would add 9,000 apartments intended for ultra-Orthodox Jews smack in the middle of a densely populated Palestinian area between central Jerusalem and Ramallah. In December, the cabinet approved 19 new settlements, bringing the total under the current government to 68. Meanwhile, some 180 outposts built in violation of Israeli law continue to gobble up territory.
And settlement construction is only part of the story. In recent cabinet decisions, the Israeli government is rewriting the legal framework governing the West Bank in ways it did not dare attempt since 1967. The emerging regime treats Israel not as an occupying power, but as a sovereign one, and it tilts the legal system toward settlers, against Palestinians, and strips powers granted to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords.
While the mechanics of these legal changes can get highly technical, the bottom line is clear: The Israeli government is engaging in annexation – ignoring Trump’s admonition.
By brazenly making annexation a reality, Prime Minister Netanyahu is openly defying the United States and derailing the very framework Trump presented to end the Gaza war. He is subverting the prospect of historic normalization with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Most dangerously, annexation abandons any viable diplomatic horizon with the Palestinians and entrenches a cycle of permanent escalation – one that makes future catastrophes not less likely, but instead inevitable.
We have already seen the cost of letting Netanyahu’s policies go unchecked. For years, his policies bolstered Hamas while sidelining negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. When that strategy exploded on October 7, 2023, Israelis and Palestinians paid the highest price – and the shockwaves reverberated around the world.
If Trump and his Board of Peace are serious about stabilizing Gaza, they must confront what is happening in the West Bank. Halting annexation is not a side issue. Without it, no amount of funding, international forces, or security arrangements will produce lasting stability.
Lior Amihai is the Executive Director of the Israeli Peace Now movement. Hadar Susskind is the president and CEO of New Jewish Narrative.
Photo Credit: Atef Abu a-Rub, CC-BY-4.0
