Hard Power: Israel's Annexation of the Jordan Valley


Charlie McGill
Mr. Roddy
GPHC
9/16/2019


Israel's Annexation of the Jordan Valley

As the Israeli democratic elections come up, many politicians have begun to promise that if elected, they will annex the Jordan Valley. The current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, released his annexation plan 6 days ago. He, along with other Israeli politicians, site national security as a reason to annex. This is a prime example of hard power, since the Israeli’s want to use sovereignty and power to forcibly take land that isn’t theirs to benefit their ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.

The annexation has largely already begun, after Netanyahu approved the building of a new settlement in the Jordan Valley. When it is complete, there is likely to be even larger instability both in Palestine and in Jordan, even though Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel. The action is a spit in the face to every non-Isreali who lives there, and it will shut down any hopes of peace. This is not beneficial to National Security, which Israel claims is the whole reason behind their actions.

Although military force isn’t being used, Israel’s actions still definitely fall under the hard power category. In order to weaken their opposition, the Israeli’s are using their power over these weaker nations to perform actions that break international law, the 4th Geneva Convention (which Israel agreed to), and any moral code of a decent human being. A 2013 World Bank report on Palestine and the Jordan Valley claims that Palestine would suffer economically without their sector of the valley. The report questions if future Palestinian states would have economic stability without the land of the valley. It also states that if Palestine were able to develop in the Jordan Valley, their GDP could rise up to 35%. But with Israel taking the entirety of the land with hard power, those economic benefits are impossible to capitalize on. Hard power is when one country or organization forces another country to do as they want by threatening them militarily and economically. By annexing the Jordan Valley, Israel is putting deep economic strain on Palestine, Jordan, and all of the Arab people who live there. In a sense, they’re trying to take Jerusalem along with everything else that’s on the negotiating table between Israel and Palestine by harming their citizens and putting an economic strain on the country. In my opinion, this is one of the most important conflicts in the world right now, and it’s not one that cannot be solved with Israel using hard power to get everything they want.


Sources:

Bromberg, Gidon, et al. “Annexing the Jordan Valley Threatens Regional Security.” The Times of Israel, 15 Sept. 2019, www.timesofisrael.com/annexing-the-jordan-valley-threatens-regional-security/.

Hoffman, Gil, and Tovah Lazaroff. “Israel to Authorize New Jordan Valley Settlement after Annexation Pledge.” The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, 12 Sept. 2019, www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israel-to-authorize-new-Jordan-Valley-settlement-after-annexation-pledge-601407.

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