The West Bank and annexation

What is at stake

The West Bank is the land between Israel and Jordan that Israel captured in 1967 and has held under military occupation since. "Occupied" is the term used by the UN, whose humanitarian office reports on the "occupied Palestinian territory," by the European Union, whose annual report is titled 2025 Report on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and by the International Court of Justice, whose non-binding 2024 advisory opinion refers to "the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967" (Times of Israel, July 19, 2024); this site uses it too. Israel's government rejects the label and calls the territory "disputed," arguing that its hold on the West Bank cannot be considered an occupation "both because the territory historically belonged to ancient Israel and because it captured the territory from Jordan, which had no legal claim to it" (Jerusalem Post, July 2023). Netanyahu answered the court: "The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land" (same Times of Israel report).

The 1995 Oslo II agreement, meant to last five years, split the territory into three zones that are still in force: Area A, the Palestinian cities (about 18%), under the Palestinian Authority; Area B (about 22%), under Palestinian civil and Israeli security control; and Area C (about 60%), under full Israeli control (B'Tselem). More than 3 million people live in the West Bank, 85% of them Palestinian (end of 2023, Peace Now). The Palestinians among them live under Israeli military rule, are not Israeli citizens and have no vote on October 27; the Israeli settlers living beside them do (see who votes, and who doesn't). The two groups also live under different law: the International Court of Justice found that "Palestinians in the West Bank are thus subject to military law and military courts, whereas settlers benefit from the criminal law and criminal justice system applicable to civilians in Israel" (ICJ, July 19, 2024, para. 136).

How many settlers there are depends on East Jerusalem: the EU counts its Israeli neighborhoods as settlements, while Israel does not. Without East Jerusalem, 541,085 Jews lived in the West Bank on Jan 1, 2026 (JNS). With it, the EU counts over 750,000 Israeli settlers, 15% of the West Bank's population, East Jerusalem included (EU, 2025 report). The two figures differ in source, group counted and date, so their gap is not an exact count of East Jerusalem's settlers. The settlements include Haredi cities in the West Bank, such as Modi'in Illit and Beitar Illit, whose residents are Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and are counted in these totals; they are covered on the Haredim page and the settlers page.

"Annexation" means applying Israeli law and administration to this land. Israel's right calls it "applying sovereignty." The Knesset has not passed it into law. A July 2025 Knesset motion calling the West Bank an "inseparable part of the Land of Israel" passed 71–13 and has no legal force (Times of Israel). On Oct 22, 2025, two bills passed a preliminary reading, one applying Israeli law to "all areas of settlement" (Jerusalem Post) 25–24 and one for Ma'ale Adumim 32–9 (CBS News). Netanyahu told Likud MKs to abstain. No later vote on either bill was found before the Knesset dissolved in July 2026. Trump had already ruled annexation out in September 2025:

I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. It's not going to happen.

The larger change has come through administration. In 2023 Bezalel Smotrich set up a Settlement Administration inside the Defense Ministry. On May 29, 2024, the army's Central Command delegated Civil Administration powers over land, planning and registration to a civilian deputy (Times of Israel). In February 2026 the cabinet eased Israeli purchase of private land, extended oversight into Areas A and B, and opened land registration in Area C. The Foreign Ministry called this "an administrative measure"; Smotrich called it part of "the normalization and de facto sovereignty revolution that we are leading" (Times of Israel, Feb 19, 2026).

Settlement planning reached records. In 2025, 54 new settlements were approved and 86 outposts set up, 58 of them "agricultural farms" (Peace Now, 2025 summary).

Housing units in settlement plans advanced by the Higher Planning Council (deposit or validation), West Bank excluding East Jerusalem. Advanced means a plan cleared a planning stage, not that homes were built.

• 2023Peace Now 2023 summary, Feb 202412,349
• 2024Peace Now 2024 summary, Feb 20259,884
• 2025Peace Now 2025 summary, Feb 3, 202627,941
• 2026, to Sept 23Peace Now plan table, to Sept 23, 202610,539 (to Sept 23, 2026)

Source: Peace Now, Settlement Watch, 2024–2026. Each year comes from a separate Peace Now report. 2026 is a partial year: the same Peace Now page gave 8,056 units to July 29, 2026. In 2025 some plans passed both stages and are counted once. Counting East Jerusalem, the EU's 2025 settlements report puts 2025 at 63,311 units

One project runs into election week. E1, the land between Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem, received final approval for 3,401 units in August 2025. A tender for 1,234 of them closes on Oct 19, 2026, eight days before the vote (Peace Now, Aug 2026).

Settler violence has also risen. UN OCHA counted 1,189 settler attacks causing Palestinian casualties or property damage in 2023, 1,420 in 2024 and 1,828 in 2025, the highest since its count began in 2006 (OCHA via the EU report). Of the police investigation files on ideologically motivated offenses by Israelis against Palestinians that Yesh Din has monitored since 2005, 93.6% ended without an indictment (Yesh Din, Jan 2026).

OCHA counts deaths in both directions: Palestinians and Israelis killed or injured "in the context of the occupation and conflict," each incident "validated by at least two independent and reliable sources." It counts as a civilian "whoever is neither a member of security forces (including police) nor fulfills a combat function within an armed group" (OCHA). In 2025, by its count, Israeli forces killed 225 Palestinians in the West Bank and settlers killed nine; for six more it is unknown whether forces or settlers killed them. Of the 240, 55 were children. Palestinians killed 17 Israelis in the West Bank, one of them a child and six of them members of Israeli forces, and attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank killed three Israelis inside Israel (OCHA, Jan 7, 2026).

What Israelis think

In June 2026, INSS found three camps of about a quarter each: separation from the Palestinians, a two-state solution, and full annexation without civil rights for Palestinians (INSS, June 2026). The divide runs between the blocs: half of coalition voters chose annexation, while opposition voters split between separation (40%) and two states (36%). Among Arab respondents, 57% chose two states.

Preferred approach to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict (INSS's summary of the options).

• Separation from the Palestinians27%
• Two-state solution25%
• Full annexation without granting civil rights25%
• Don't know10%

Source: INSS survey, June 16–22, 2026, 957 (805 Hebrew, 152 Arabic); ±3.17%. All respondents. The remaining answers, about 13%, went to other options INSS did not list in its summary; among Arab respondents 21% chose one binational state. Jews: separation 32%, annexation without civil rights 31%. Arabs: two states 57%. Coalition voters: annexation 50%. Opposition voters: separation 40%, two states 36%

Other surveys word annexation differently and get different numbers. In August 2026, 37% of all Israelis supported full annexation in the Jewish People Policy Institute's index (Jerusalem Post, Aug 12, 2026).

The share of Israelis who think Israel and a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully has fallen by two-thirds since 2013, from 50% to 17% in 2026. In Pew's 2025 survey, 54% of the left thought Israel and a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully, against 29% of the center and 7% of the right (Pew, June 2025). Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, asked the same question in spring 2026, were about as doubtful: 21% said a way can be found (Pew, Sept 15, 2026).

"A way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully." Share of all Israeli adults saying yes.

• 2013Pew Research Center, June 3, 202550%
• 2023Pew Research Center, June 3, 202535%
• 2024Pew Research Center, June 3, 202526%
• 2025Pew Research Center, June 3, 202521%
• 2026Pew Research Center, Sept 15, 202617%

Source: Pew Research Center, 2013–2026, 2026: 1,001 adults, face to face, Apr 5–May 6, 2026. Same question each year; 2013–2025 are from Pew's June 2025 report, 2026 from its September 2026 report. Jews: 16% in both 2025 and 2026. Arab respondents: 40% in 2025 and 23% in 2026, but 46% of Arab respondents gave no answer in 2026, so the drop cannot be read as a change of mind. In 2026, 56% of all respondents said it was not possible

On settler violence, 55% told INSS in January 2026 that the defense establishment was "acting too leniently" on nationalist crime by Jews, and 25% called enforcement appropriate (INSS, Jan 2026). No 2026 survey found breaks annexation views down by religiosity, and none measures how much voters weigh this issue. When IDI asked voters in September 2026 which considerations would decide their vote, the Palestinian issue was not offered as a separate answer (IDI, Aug 31–Sept 3, 2026).

Palestinians in the West Bank. In August 2026, 87% of West Bank residents told the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) that they were worried settlement expansion and new outposts would cost them their land or homes (PCPSR, Aug 5–8, 2026). In Pew's survey, 92% of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem called Israeli checkpoints a major problem for them and their families, the top concern of nine asked about (Pew, March 30–April 28, 2026). OCHA counted 925 movement obstacles in March 2026, 43% above the average of the previous two decades (Times of Israel, July 27, 2026). Morshed Awad of Beit Ummar, who said the army closed both of the village's main entrances with gates, told the Times of Israel:

Residents use alternative roads. The drive from Beit Ummar to Hebron used to take five minutes. Today it takes 40 minutes. It creates real hardship.

The IDF said checkpoint decisions are made "solely in accordance with operational assessments and security considerations" (same report).

What the parties say

Of the lists running, only Ra'am and the Joint List name a Palestinian state as a goal. No Jewish-majority list that answered Ynet names one as a goal. They differ on how much land to annex, from all of it (Religious Zionism–Zehut, Otzma Yehudit) to Area C (B'Yachad, Yisrael Beiteinu) to "sovereignty through actions, not words" (Reservists). The Democrats' own word is "separation."

Should Israel annex West Bank land?

1Annex the whole West Bank17.3 seats

• Religious Zionism–Zehut5.7 seats

  Says it "eliminated the idea of a Palestinian state"; supports "applying full Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• Otzma Yehudit7.4 seats

  "Apply full Israeli sovereignty, dismantle the Palestinian Authority of its assets and weapons" and "encourage voluntary migration from Judea and Samaria and Gaza"; new communities in all parts of the territory; of outposts: "We will regularize them."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• People of Israel4.2 seats

  Amcha Yisrael: "A Palestinian state will never be established alongside us"; "apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• Noam

  Avi Maoz: "Only a fully right-wing government with a strong Noam for Israel will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria" (translated). He sponsored the October 2025 sovereignty bill that passed its preliminary reading 25 to 24.

  Channel 14, Sep 7, 2026; Jerusalem Post, Oct 22, 2025, Sep 7, 2026. On the record, because the party did not answer the questionnaire

2Annex Area C or chosen areas22.9 seats

• B'Yachad10.6 seats

  "Oppose a Palestinian state and the transfer of territory"; "Area C is viewed as a future sovereign part of the State of Israel."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• Yisrael Beiteinu8.2 seats

  "We support applying Israeli sovereignty to Area C"; "advancing construction in the E1 area"; "Thirty-three years after the Oslo Accords, it is clear that the experiment failed."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• Reservists–Economic4.1 seats

  "The party supports sovereignty through actions, not words"; "The strategy is to seize commanding terrain and agricultural land."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

3Backs sovereignty, blocks binding bills29.7 seats

• Likud22.1 seats

  Likud MK Dan Illouz co-sponsored the July 2025 non-binding Knesset motion calling for sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, which passed 71 to 13, and Likud ministers led by Yariv Levin wrote to Netanyahu that it was "the time to approve in government a decision to apply sovereignty." On the binding bills of October 2025 all but one Likud MK stayed away, and the party called them "another provocation by the opposition aimed at damaging our relations with the United States… True sovereignty will be achieved not through a showy law for the record, but through proper work on the ground."

  Times of Israel, Jul 23, 2025; Ynet, Jun 2025; Times of Israel and CBS News, Oct 22, 2025, Oct 22, 2025. On the record, because the party did not answer the questionnaire

• Shas7.6 seats

  Opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state; says that, as one of the "founders of the right-wing bloc," it has supported initiatives promoted by Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit; per Ynet, does not make West Bank settlement policy a central campaign issue. Its MKs voted for the July 2025 non-binding motion calling for sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, which passed 71 to 13, and, like Likud's, were absent from the October 2025 vote on the binding bill (Times of Israel).

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026; Times of Israel, Jul 23 and Oct 22, 2025, Sept 30, 2026. On the record, because the party did not answer the questionnaire

4Expand settlements, no pledge to annex21.0 seats

• Yashar!21.0 seats

  A Palestinian state "is not on the agenda"; "strengthening the settlement blocs and establishing new communities legally"; "Israel has no interest in assuming responsibility for the civilian lives of some 2 million Palestinians."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• Blue and White

  "Strengthening settlement in Judea and Samaria, with an emphasis on the Jordan Valley…"; per Ynet, a framework similar to the Trump plan that would not require evacuating settlements.

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

5Separate from the Palestinians9.0 seats

• The Democrats9.0 seats

  "We must strive for separation as part of a regional move" with the United States; "We will evacuate illegal outposts that create points of friction."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

6No annexation, a Palestinian state12.5 seats

• Ra'am4.8 seats

  Per Ynet, supports a negotiated two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel; opposes extending Israeli sovereignty.

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

• Joint List7.7 seats

  "All settlements… must be evacuated immediately and without delay"; "The occupation is the root of all evil"; asked that the question say "the occupied West Bank."

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026

No position in these sources

• UTJ7.6 seats

  Gave no unified position. Ynet reports that Agudat Yisrael generally leans further right, Degel HaTorah takes a more moderate position, and neither makes the issue central to its campaign. The votes show the same split: both factions backed the July 2025 non-binding sovereignty motion, but UTJ split on Maoz's binding bill in October 2025. Agudat Yisrael voted for it, by the Times of Israel's account to highlight the government's hypocrisy; Degel HaTorah voted against, saying sovereignty proposals "at this time" put Israel in conflict with the United States.

  Ynet, Sept 30, 2026; Times of Israel, Jul 23, 2025; Times of Israel, Oct 22, 2025, Sept 30, 2026

Most rows are from the parties' answers to a Ynet questionnaire (Sept 30, 2026). Likud does not take part in questionnaires; its row is its statement on the October 2025 bills. Noam's row is its leader's campaign statement of September 2026. 'Judea and Samaria' appears here as the parties wrote it. Shas and UTJ answered without taking a position on annexation; their rows add how they voted in 2025, which does not settle one. Checked October 2026.

Compare every list on this issue

Misreadings

"Annexation" is not mostly a Knesset vote. The bills are symbolic or stalled. The change has come through planning approvals, the 2024 delegation order and the 2026 land decisions, which Smotrich himself describes as de facto sovereignty.

"Separation" is not "two states." Without the map of Areas A, B and C, "sovereignty over Area C" sounds like annexing everything, and the Democrats' "separation" sounds like a Palestinian state. They are different plans.

The blocs do not line up with the positions. Two lists running against Netanyahu, B'Yachad and Yisrael Beiteinu, back annexing Area C, and Yisrael Beiteinu backs building in E1. The Haredi parties, Netanyahu's allies, do not make the issue central to their campaigns, Ynet reports.

The terms are positions. The biblical name used in most of the party statements above or "West Bank," "sovereignty" or "annexation," "farms" or "outposts," "nationalist crime," "Jewish terror" or "settler violence": each word signals where its speaker stands.