'Israel' exploiting Gaza war to seize West Bank land: NYT

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The New York Times
18 Sep 2025 10:11
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A New York Times opinion piece by Philip H. Gordon warns that "Israel" is using the war on Gaza to accelerate West Bank annexation, undermining Palestinian statehood.

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The Arab neighborhood of El Za'im, on the outskirts of east Jerusalem in the West Bank, near where Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement project, Thursday, August 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An opinion piece published in The New York Times on Thursday by Philip H. Gordon, former national security advisor to Kamala Harris, sounded the alarm over "Israel's" accelerating annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank, a project that he argues would bury the prospect of Palestinian statehood and intensify "Israel's" pariah status worldwide.

While the world's gaze remains fixed on the devastating assault on Gaza, Gordon warns that the Israeli government is exploiting the chaos to push forward a colonial agenda in the West Bank.

He stresses that extreme-right figures in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, emboldened by US indifference, are seizing the moment to entrench permanent control over territory that belongs to Palestinians.

For decades, Palestinians have seen their land steadily carved away by settlements. The settler population, Gordon notes, has ballooned to around 740,000 from just 10,000 in the 1970s, and over a hundred new outposts were established in the past year alone.

The latest flashpoint is the E1 plan, dubbed a "doomsday" settlement by advocates of a two-state solution, that would physically sever East Al-Quds from Palestinian cities like Ramallah and Bethlehem.

"Israel's" Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich admitted bluntly that the project "buries the idea of a Palestinian state," while Netanyahu declared, "We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us."

Settler violence shielded

The expansion is driven not only by bureaucracy but also by increasing settler violence. Palestinians endure systematic intimidation: destroyed crops, torched cars, water cutoffs, and killings. The UN has recorded over 1,000 cases this year alone, the highest since monitoring began in 2006. Gordon highlights the case of radical settler Yinon Levi, caught on video shooting activist Awdah Hathaleen. "Israel" delayed returning Hathaleen's body for more than a week, while Levi was quickly released by a court citing insufficient evidence.

The US role looms large. Unlike past administrations, Trump's team has offered cover for "Israel's" annexation drive. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described annexation as "not a final thing," while Ambassador Mike Huckabee claimed the US "has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty" in the West Bank.

Washington has also lifted sanctions on violent settler groups and barred Palestinian Authority leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, from attending the UN General Assembly.

Apartheid expansion

According to Gordon, only coordinated international action can halt "Israel's" apartheid expansion. The UAE has already warned that annexation is a "red line," and France and Saudi Arabia are pressing the issue at the UN.

The choice, Gordon concludes, is clear: "Israel" can maintain ties with the global community or pursue domination over Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, but not both.