Lior Amihai, director of Israeli NGO Peace Now: 'The coalition in power wants to annex the territories in the West Bank and establish a racist state based on Jewish supremacy'

Lior Amihai is executive director of Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental organization that has been documenting Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank for decades. Regularly attacked by settlers, the organization has tracked both on-the-ground operations and the workings of political and bureaucratic mechanisms. There has been a huge change since 2022. This story was slightly less told due to the other dramas that happened in Israel. First, the judicial changes that the government tried to make when it was first formed in December 2022. Then, of course, the war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack. The government led a systematic program to annex the territories and, apart from officially declaring that the territories are annexed, they are doing everything else. The understanding, since 1967, is that the occupation is temporary and it is the military, not the government of Israel, that is in charge of the occupied territory. According to international laws, the occupying power is not allowed to make new settlements on the ground, except for immediate security needs or for the necessity of the local population, the Palestinians. You have 85.08% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.