In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Professor Yael Berda about Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank. A few days ago, the Guardian reported that “[t]he Israeli military has quietly handed over significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for the far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich” (“IDF transfers powers in occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants,” 6/20/24) and the New York Times reported Smotrich’s declaration that he succeeded in changing the “DNA” of the occupation (“Israeli Official Describes Secret Government Bid to Cement Control of West Bank, 6/21/22). Looking at the ongoing annexation efforts, Beinart and Berda discuss the ways in which – and the reasons why – Israeli settlers want to control the Israeli military; how Smotrich’s “decisive plan” is well underway; and the potential that international opposition may stop Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNBC Political Commentator.

Yael Berda is associate professor at the department of sociology and anthropology at Hebrew University and a fellow at the Middle East initiative at Harvard Kennedy school. Yael is an activist and former human rights lawyer. She has written three books, two about  Israeli rule in the occupied Palestinian territory, specifically about the bureaucracy that prevents freedom of movement and creates tools of control and dispossession. She also writes about emergency laws and how they shape political life. Yael is a board member of the group A Land for All. Read her recent co-authored articles on annexation: “Israel is Annexing the West Bank. Don’t be Misled by its Gaslighting” (with Tamar Megiddo and Ronit Levine-Schnur, published in Just Security) and “Israel’s Annexation of the West Bank Has Already Begun” (with Dalia Scheindlin, published in Foreign Affairs).