Israel does not need to announce a “Greater Israel” project formally, but its heinous actions are already acting as a harbinger of that. It is visible in the bombed neighborhoods of Gaza and the expanding settlements of the West Bank. Moreover, it is conspicuous after observing the suffocating control of East Jerusalem, and the graves, homes, farms, roads, and villages that Palestinians keep losing piece by piece.
This is not just an abstract map or a political theory. Creation of a Greater Israel is part of Israel’s strategic plans. It is a checkpoint that controls a morning commute, a settlement road that cuts through land, and like a demolition order on a family home. It is a military raid in a refugee camp, and a child born in an abysmal tent. It is the father whose body is forced out of his own grave because settlers claim the land.
When observed together, Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Lebanon, and the Iranian war are all part of an expanding regime plan.
What “Greater Israel” Looks Like Today
The phrase “Greater Israel” is often connected to the dreams of permanent Israeli sovereignty over all historic Palestine, and even beyond it. But the danger today is not only in speeches or old maps. It is in policy.
The phrase “Greater Israel” is not just limited to Israel and Palestine but even far beyond it. It is to engulf Lebanon, parts of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and more.
In this context, modern expansion does not always arrive through one dramatic declaration. It comes through:
- Settlement approvals
- Land seizures
- Military zones
- Settler-only roads
- Home demolitions
- Forced displacement
- Restrictions around holy sites
- The fragmentation of Palestinian towns
- Genocide
The language may change, as Israeli leaders may speak of “security,” “sovereignty,” “buffer zones,” or “biblical land.” But the result is completely aligned with the idea of Greater Israel, no matter how many countries have to be demolished.
Gaza’s Genocide and the Logic of Erasure
Gaza is the most brutal example of this absurd logic. Israel’s Gaza genocide has not only martyred Palestinians; it has attacked the foundations of Palestinian life itself. Homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, universities, roads, water systems, aid routes, and entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ruins.
In this context, Amnesty International concluded in December 2024 that Israel had seriously committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It cited killings, serious bodily and mental harm, mass displacement, destruction of vital infrastructure, obstruction of aid, and conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction.
This matters because genocide is not only measured through death counts. It is also measured through what is made impossible, such as safe birth, clean water, medical care, education, burial, return, shelter, and ordinary family life.
In Gaza, Israel has turned survival into a daily negotiation with hunger, rubble, disease, fear, and displacement.
The West Bank Is Being Annexed Without a Formal Announcement
While Gaza is bombed and starved by Israel, the West Bank is being absorbed through illegal settlements. In March 2026, the UN Human Rights Office said Israel had accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and annexation across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, forcibly displacing over 36,000 Palestinians amid rising violence by Israeli forces and settlers.
Additionally, Amnesty International warned in February 2026 that Israeli authorities had launched unlawful measures designed to dispossess Palestinians and make annexation of the West Bank “an irreversible reality.” Recent UN findings also noted that nearly 64,000 housing units had been advanced in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. At the same time, the UN warned of a campaign to gain control of Palestinian land with minimal Palestinian presence.
Eventually, piece by piece, the land is being reorganized around Israeli permanence and Palestinian uncertainty.
Jerusalem: The Crown of the Project
East Jerusalem is central to the Greater Israel vision because it carries history, religion, politics, and symbolism. Israel captured East Jerusalem illegally in 1967 and later annexed it, a move widely rejected internationally. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Yet Palestinian life in the city is steadily squeezed through home demolitions, residency restrictions, settler encroachment, police control, and repeated provocations around al-Aqsa Mosque. Jerusalem Day marches through Palestinian neighborhoods are not innocent celebrations. They are performances of domination in a city where Palestinians are treated as obstacles to someone else’s sovereignty.
For Muslims around the globe, al-Aqsa is not a political prop, but a highly sacred ground. For Palestinians, Jerusalem is not a slogan, but home. Israel’s control over the city is therefore not only territorial. It is psychological and spiritual at the same time.
When it comes to the legal picture, in July 2024, the International Court of Justice said Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and that Israel must end its occupation as rapidly as possible. The court also said Israel should stop settlement activity and evacuate settlers from the occupied territory. But who will enforce these regulations? The real issue is the absence of law and the relentless support of the United States to Israel on the global stage and in the UN through its veto power.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, if the world keeps treating each Israeli crime as a separate incident, it will miss the larger design. In this context, Palestine is not being lost in one blow. It is being taken piece by piece while the world is watching!