Opinion piece argues diplomatic talks have facilitated territorial expansion
The author claims settlement numbers doubled within seven years of talks began and asserts current leadership has abandoned rhetoric of peace for explicit plans to annex occupied territories
An opinion article published on 24 April 2026 by a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and political analyst argues that diplomatic negotiations have functioned as a mechanism enabling Israel to expand its territorial control through illegal settlement construction and land annexation. The piece, which appeared in Al Jazeera Global News, contends that the premise of negotiating freedom with an occupying power is fundamentally flawed.
The author recalls participating in the Palestinian team during the early 2000s, noting the perversion of the idea that those under military rule must negotiate for their freedom while land owners negotiate to return it. The text asserts that virtually no state has gained independence by negotiating with its oppressors, yet world leaders from the United States and Europe have long promoted this path as the only option.
According to the analysis, as these negotiations took place, Israel used the opportunity to build and expand its illegal settlements. The author specifically contends that the number of Israeli settlers doubled within seven years of the Oslo negotiations began. Under the guise of negotiating, the piece argues, Israel stole more land, a pattern the author suggests has remained consistent for twenty-six years.
The article asserts that current Israeli leadership has abandoned previous rhetoric of peace in favour of explicit plans to annex the West Bank, recolonise Gaza, and seize further territory in Lebanon and Syria. This shift is described as a move from flowery language to honesty regarding the goal of expanding the territory controlled since the beginning of the Zionist project.
The author highlights historical precedents, including the 1947 Partition Plan and pre-emptive attacks against Syria, Egypt and Jordan in 1967, as evidence of an outward-looking expansionist strategy. The text notes that while Israel continues to illegally occupy and colonise the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in violation of international law, it has also gone deep into Lebanon and Gaza, including during ceasefires.
The piece concludes by questioning whether Israel operates above the system of law and order put into place after the Second World War. The author argues that the foundational rule that states cannot steal land or invade the territory of another is being mocked, and warns that Lebanon has already fallen into the same trap that Palestinians fell into in the 1990s regarding negotiations and land loss.
