Context: Recently, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Israel's plans to annex parts of the West Bank.
Background

• The Israel-Palestine Conflict can be traced back to 1917.
• In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
• While the Palestinians are seeking to establish an independent state in the occupied parts of the West Bank, along with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip — with East Jerusalem serving as its capital.
• When Israel took control of the land in 1967 it allowed Jewish people to move in, but Palestinians consider the West Bank illegally occupied Palestinian land.
• However, most of the international communities till now consider these settlements a violation of international law and obstacles to peace.

Current Scenario

• Pompeo’s visit was exempted from Israel’s mandatory two-week quarantine for arrivals and shut borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Their meeting took place during a day of violent clashes between Israeli troops and people in the occupied territory. One Palestinian teen was reportedly shot and killed.
• For Israel, this visit was an indication of the strength of its alliance with the USA and the talks focused on discussions on annexation, shared concerns about Iran, the battle against the coronavirus, Israel’s incoming government and threats from Israel’s ties with China.
• Israel-China Ties: The US has reportedly been pressuring Israel to rethink a bid by a Hong Kong company to build a massive desalination facility.

Issue

• It was unveiled by Trump in January, 2020. Under it, the Palestinians would have a limited statehood contingent on a list of stringent requirements while Israel would annex some 30% of the West Bank.
• Israeli hard-liners are eager to unilaterally redraw the Mideast map before November’s US Presidential Election.
• The presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, is in the opposition of unilateral annexation plans by Israel.
• Annexation would give Donald Trump an accomplishment to shore up his pro-Israel base, particularly politically influential pro-Israel evangelical (of or according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christianity) Christian voters.
• These voters believe in the notion that God promised the land to Jews and it should be returned to them.

India’s Stand

• As a part of Link West Policy, India has de-hyphenated its relationship with Israel and Palestine in 2018 to treat both the countries mutually independent and exclusive.
• In June 2019, India voted in favor of a decision introduced by Israel in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that objected to granting consultative status to a Palestinian non-governmental organization.
• India traditionally believes in the 2-state solution and supports the establishment of a sovereign independent and a viable state of Palestine. However, India’s support for Palestine has not deterred its growing relationship with Israel.

Criticism of this move

• The annexation will trigger widespread international condemnation because it will crush already faint Palestinian hopes of establishing a viable state on the lands captured by Israel in the Mideast war.
• The Arab League has mentioned the annexation as a war crime.
• The European Union (EU) and other individual member states, have warned of tough consequences if Israel moves forward in the annexation process.