On 20 April 2020, the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and the leader of the White and Blue political alliance, Mr Benjamin Gantz, signed the coalition agreement that ended the political stalemate resulting from the inconclusive results of three consecutive Israeli legislative elections, which had been held in April 2019, September 2019, and March 2020.
Under the terms of this agreement, it was decided that Mr Netanyahu would have been authorized to put forward a proposal to annex parts of the West Bank starting from 1 July 2020. The formal annexation would have been subjected to approval by both the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and, then, the full Knesset. The plan would have been undertaken in close coordination with the United States.[1]
Such a proposal has attracted widespread criticism from the international community.[2] As for Italy, on 22 April 2020, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ms Marina Sereni, treated the annexation plan as a “serious matter”. Ms Sereni further elaborated as follows:
Italy […] will work together with its European partners while seeking a convergence on this point also with the American Administration. Keeping the dialogue between the parties open and relaunching bilateral negotiations remains the only option on which the Italian Government is working, in agreement with the other EU countries, with a view to a two‑State solution. On the contrary, unilateral acts risk undermining all efforts at dialogue and negotiation for peace.[3]
Subsequently, on 5 May 2020, some members of the Italian Parliament posed a question to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation regarding this political development. More specifically, the interrogating members of the Parliament, recalling the above-mentioned remark by the Deputy Minister, asked whether the Minister intended to undertake any diplomatic initiative to prevent the implementation of the annexation plan. The question was answered by Ms Sereni on 20 October 2020, at the 412nd Meeting (XVIII Legislature) of the Chamber of Deputies. She said:
Since the formation of the Netanyahu–Gantz Government, Italy has expressed its opposition to Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank and of the Jordan Valley. We have reiterated this position many times both at a bilateral level, beginning with the phone call on 1 July between Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Di Maio and his Israeli counterpart Ashkenazi, and at a multilateral level, most recently on the occasion of the meeting with the same Israeli Minister on the side-lines of the informal meeting of European Ministers for Foreign Affairs held in Berlin on 28 August.
The Deputy Minister then clarified the grounds on which Italy’s stance is based and, more specifically, she reaffirmed the traditional Italian position that such an annexation is problematic from both a legal and a political viewpoint.[4] Ms Sereni said:
Our message, in line with the European position, has always been very clear: any annexation of territories by Israel would not be acceptable because it would be in flagrant violation of international law and it would further complicate the prospects for a two-State solution, which Italy firmly supports.
The Deputy Minister then expressed her belief that eventually Israel had refrained from proceeding presumably also due to this joint EU reaction. In any case, she conceded that the annexation plan had been suspended in exchange for the normalization agreements (collectively known as the Abraham Accords) between Israel and, respectively, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrein. As regards these accords, Ms Sereni continued her reasoning as follows:
The Abraham Accords mark a major step, which we have welcomed together with our European partners, because by bringing Israel closer to the Arab world they could contribute not only to the stability of the Middle East, but also to its development by promoting economic, health, scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation. Potentially this is a paradigm shift for the balance in the region and thus for a new political environment where the legitimate existence of the State of Israel and its right to live in peace and security are finally recognized. Certainly, to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, the peace process between Israel and Palestine must be revived through direct negotiations between the parties, so to achieve a two-State solution that is just, viable, and that takes in due consideration the legitimate aspirations of both peoples, in accordance with international law and UN resolutions. Thus, in this regard, our commitment remains firm and we do not miss the opportunity to encourage the parties to return to the negotiating table, with a realistic approach and a constructive spirit.
Even if the Deputy Minister observed that the Abraham Accords cannot by themselves lead to peace in the Middle East, her words clearly described them as a welcome political development inasmuch as they could contribute positively to the peace process.[5] This is noteworthy because these agreements were brokered by the Trump Administration and are part of a wider diplomatic effort,[6] which however had been criticized by a previous Italian cabinet.[7]
It is equally worth noting that the expressions “realistic approach” and “constructive spirit” arguably convey a specific message to the Palestinians, in that such wording seems to conceal behind euphemisms the demand that they make some compromises on matters of international law. The problem is that international law might be a factor that narrows down the scope of negotiations on final status issues whenever a certain outcome is legally mandated.[8] It is therefore not clear to what extent it would be lawful for the two parties to agree on such compromises, especially when these regard jus cogens norms. Admittedly, expressions similar to those used by Ms Sereni are routinely used when it comes to the conflict in question, thus the statement cited above does not particularly stand out. The Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations (UN), Ms Maria Angela Zappia, on 5 November 2020, before the Commission on Foreign and European Affairs (III) of the Chamber of Deputies at its 23rd Meeting, was more explicit on the tension between the alleged pragmatic nature of the negotiation process and international legality. In this regard, she observed that:
Today, after the Abraham Accords, the peace process in the Middle East has the chance to be resumed thanks to a structural change in the dynamics of the region that can revitalize the direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians with a view to arriving at a just and viable two-State solution. More specifically, we have to help the Palestinian leadership to somehow draw upon its courage and deal with this new reality with foresight and pragmatism, without having to renounce to principled positions that are absolutely legitimate.
Some members of the Commission asked Ms Zappia her opinion as to the consequences of a hypothetical victory of Mr Joe Biden for the peace process in the Middle East. Ms Zappia, after noting that the candidate of the Democratic Party had already expressed his support for the Abraham Accords as well as for the United States diplomatic effort in that area, deemed it unlikely that those agreements would be challenged by a Democrat-led administration. She also stressed that by accepting the agreements Israel is renouncing annexation as a concrete option, and that it is this development that should be encouraged in view of a two-State solution. It remains to be seen to what extent the Biden Administration will ensure continuity with its approach to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and how third States will react.
Jean Paul Moinet
A quotable version of this post was published in the Italian Yearbook of International Law: Moinet, “The Proposed Israeli Annexation of Parts of the West Bank”, IYIL XXX (2020), 2021, pp. 502-506; available here.
[1] On the coalition agreement and the annexation plan, see “Netanyahu, Gantz Agree on West Bank Annexation Proposal as Unity Deal Nears”, Haaretz, 6 April 2020. See also “Netanyahu, Gantz Sign Coalition Deal to Form Government”, Haaretz, 20 April 2020.
[2] See the remarks by the Secretary-General and by the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, which were echoed by many members of the Security Council, “Annexing Parts of West Bank Will ‘Grievously Harm’ Two-State Solution, Secretary-General Says, Addressing Security Council on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”, 24 June 2020; the remarks by the European Union High Representative Borrell on the possible Israeli annexation in the West Bank, “European Parliament: Remarks by the HR/VP Josep Borrell on the Foreign policy consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, on the PRC national security law for Hong Kong and on the possible Israeli annexation in the West Bank”, 18 June 2020; and Resolution no. 8522 adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States on 30 April 2020, enclosed to the Annex to the Letter dated 1 May 2020 from the Permanent Representative of Oman to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, 12 May 2020, UN Doc. A/74/835–S/2020/356.
[3] Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, “Middle East; Ms Sereni’s phone call with Palestinian chief negotiator Erekat”, 22 April 2020. See also Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, “Sereni to the Arab League delegation: working together to prevent the prospect of Israeli annexation”, 23 June 2020.
[4] Moinet, “Territorial Issues Concerning the Arab-Israeli Conflict”, IYIL, 2020, p. 470 ff.
[5] Admittedly, this is not an isolated position, so much that, apparently, even the Biden Administration has soon taken the very same position. See the remarks by the United States Secretary of State, Mr Blinken, in “Secretary Antony J. Blinken with Wolf Blitzer of CNN’s The Situation Room”, 8 February 2021.
[6] Indeed, both the agreement between Israel and Bahrain and the one between Israel and the United Arab Emirates mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the latter also reaffirms the peace plan proposed by former United States President Trump. The texts of the agreements (both signed on 15 September 2020) are available respectively here and here. See in general Eichenser (ed.), “Trump Administration Brokers Accords to Normalize Relations Between Israel and Six Countries”, AJIL, 2021, p. 116 ff.
[7] For a comment on the Italian position on the previous stances adopted by the Trump Administration, see Turrini, “The Status of Jerusalem”, IYIL, 2018, p. 468 ff., and Moinet, “Territorial Issues Concerning the Arab-Israeli Conflict”, IYIL, 2020, p. 470 ff.
[8] For such an argument, see Dajani, “Shadow or Shade? The Roles of International Law in Palestinian-Israeli Peace Talks”, Yale JIL, 2007, p. 61 ff.
Italy's Diplomatic and Parliamentary Practice on International Law 