The Digester

Settlement growth, sustained Israeli security and administrative control in much of the West Bank, and selective domestic legal steps have produced many features associated with a Greater Israel, but formal annexation of the whole territory has not happened and the outcome remains contested.

Greater Israel is a political label for policies that would extend Israeli sovereignty or permanent control over the West Bank, East Jerusalem and other parts of historic Palestine.
On the ground, Israel retains routine military and civil control over large parts of the West Bank under the Oslo framework designated Area C, while the Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule in parts of Areas A and B.
Hundreds of settlements and outposts have expanded since 1967 and settler populations have grown, creating contiguous Israeli-controlled facts on the ground that fragment Palestinian territory.
Israeli domestic measures including planning, land allocation and occasional retroactive legalization of outposts have strengthened Israeli presence without formal, comprehensive annexation of the West Bank.
East Jerusalem has been incorporated into Israeli municipal authority since 1967, and Israel controls Gaza’s borders, airspace and maritime access despite the 2005 disengagement, producing distinct governance arrangements.
International law and most governments still view settlements as illegal, and formal sovereign annexation of the whole West Bank has not occurred, leaving the situation de facto consolidated in places but legally and politically contested.

Is Greater Israel already happening on the ground?

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