A few words about annexation.
It is not surprising that nothing happened today: this is completely in line with Netanyahu's style of leadership. He is a passive, reactive, and extremely cautious politician. Not one for radical interventions 1/

There is a pattern. Netanyahu talks, raises the stakes, but in the end does nothing. We've seen it with Iran's nuclear facilities, which he threatened to attack, planned and prepared for such an attack, but he never went through with it.

2/

Also seen it with the Prawer plan for forced removal of Beduin in the Naqab. Netanyahu pushed it and talked about it and once the protests started, he shelved the plan.
This is what he does.

But this time it's a little different.
3/

This time the expectations are very high. And while most Israelis don't care that much, the settlers do care. They've been promised something. They have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with Trump. They are getting increasingly impatient.

4/

The stakes are too high for a typical Netanyahu climbdown. He owes too much to annexationists to simply walk away.

I don't know what's going to happen. I don't think anyone does, including Netanyahu.

5/

Whatever happens, the endless talk about annexation has destabilised the situation, pushed expectations, attracted attention to Israeli occupation, and created new splits and alliances.

I don't see how we can "go back to normal", even if Netanyahu does nothing.

//end