In a decisive declaration that has sent shockwaves through Israeli political circles, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will not allow Israel to annex Judea and Samaria, compromising Israel’s security concerns and rewarding Hamas.
“I will not allow Israel to annex [Judea and Samaria]. It’s not going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, emphasizing that he had already conveyed this message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.”
The president’s public statement followed private assurances he made to Arab and Muslim leaders during a multilateral meeting on Tuesday at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. According to six sources familiar with the discussion, Trump was firm on the topic, promising that Israel would not be allowed to absorb the territories currently governed by the Palestinian Authority.
Trump’s announcement comes as several Western allies, including France, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Portugal, recognized a Palestinian state, partly to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution. Israel has condemned these moves, with Netanyahu expected to deliver sharp criticism of these countries, particularly France, during his UN General Assembly address on Friday.
The two-state solution would create an unprecedented militarized Palestinian entity within Israel’s borders that has been ethnically cleansed of Jews and with its exclusively Muslim capital in Jerusalem. This is based on the catastrophic failure of the Oslo Accords and the land-for-peace process that created a terrorist state in Gaza. When President Obama called for Israel to return to the pre-1967 borders, Netanyahu responded that they were “indefensible”. Indeed, before the victory in the Six-Day War, Israel was only nine miles wide.
Despite Trump’s opposition, the Netanyahu government has already implemented numerous measures that extend and solidify Israel’s de facto control over Judea and Samaria. Under Netanyahu’s leadership, Israel has significantly expanded Jewish communities throughout the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, creating facts on the ground that strengthen Israel’s security. New construction approvals and the establishment of outposts have accelerated in recent years.
Israel has tightened its security operations across Judea and Samaria, establishing additional checkpoints, military installations, and surveillance systems that effectively demonstrate Israeli sovereignty over the area. This is in response to a rise in deadly terrorism that preceded the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Various Israeli government ministries have developed legal and bureaucratic frameworks that treat parts of Judea and Samaria as integral parts of Israel, preparing the groundwork for potential formal annexation.
The right-wing members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have made annexation a central goal of their political agenda.
Trump’s rejection of annexation comes amid a dramatic erosion of support for the two-state solution among both Israelis and Palestinians. Recent polling data reveals that what was once considered the primary framework for resolving the conflict has lost its appeal on both sides.
Among Israelis, only 35% believe “a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully,” representing a decline of 9 percentage points since 2017. More strikingly, the share of Jewish Israelis who think peaceful coexistence is possible is just 16%. At the same time, only one in four Israeli adults currently supports the existence of an independent Palestinian state, with most (65%) opposing it.
The decline is equally pronounced on the Palestinian side. Support for a two-state solution among Palestinians has dropped to 24%, marking a significant departure from previous decades when the concept enjoyed broader backing. Support for an alternative two-state confederation has declined among Israelis, from 29% in 2022 to 20% in 2024, while it increased among Palestinians, from 22% to 35%.
Perhaps most telling, support for a nondemocratic regime has overtaken support for a two-state solution for the first time, according to polling experts who describe this as making “it a tougher challenge for leaders to find public support for peace.”
Among Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria, the opposition is even more pronounced, with nearly 60% believing that a two-state solution would increase violence, confirming themes among settlers and right-wing communities that withdrawal from Gaza and the Oslo accords failed.
The annexation debate occurs against the backdrop of ongoing conflict in Gaza, where Hamas seized control in 2007 after winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. Hamas violently expelled Palestinian Authority forces from Gaza, splitting Palestinian governance between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority-administered areas of Judea and Samaria.
Significantly, polling data indicate that Hamas enjoys more support among Palestinians in Judea and Samaria than the Palestinian Authority does, complicating any future governance arrangements and raising Israeli security concerns about territorial concessions.
Trump’s current opposition to annexation marks a notable shift from expectations set during his first term and early in his second presidency. His 2020 peace plan had outlined terms that would allow Israel to apply “Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea” if certain conditions were met, suggesting a more accommodating stance toward partial annexation.
Following Trump’s 2024 electoral victory, many Israeli settler leaders and far-right politicians anticipated more substantial support for annexation. Analysis from last November suggested that “in his second term, Trump is likely to go even further and support the Israeli far-right agenda of annexing the entire West Bank”, reflecting widespread expectations among both supporters and critics.
As recently as February 2025, reports indicated that “the White House will soon announce its position on annexation of the West Bank” with “signs indicate it will fully support expanding Israeli control over the occupied territory”. However, Trump’s current categorical rejection of annexation represents a dramatic reversal from these earlier expectations.
Some observers have noted that the Trump administration has been “greenlighting a slow rolling, de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank as Israel goes on attack in more visible arenas like Gaza, Syria and recently Qatar”, suggesting that while formal annexation is now off the table, gradual expansion of Israeli control continues.
Trump’s stance creates a significant challenge for Netanyahu, who must balance his relationship with the U.S. president against the demands of his coalition partners. The prime minister is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday, where the annexation issue will likely be a central topic of discussion.
A senior Israeli official indicated that while Jerusalem had received private warnings from the Trump administration about annexation, Israel did not consider this “an end to the discussion.” However, Trump’s public declaration represents a much stronger position that will be difficult for Netanyahu to navigate.
