Palestinian politicians and analysts have issued urgent warnings regarding an Israeli strategy to finalize the illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank through a series of administrative restructurings. This shift, which critics argue formalizes apartheid, fundamentally alters the legal framework governing the territory.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a directive on Friday ordering the military to prepare a comprehensive plan for transferring civilian law enforcement duties in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police. This decision, reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, follows intense public and political criticism regarding the military’s failure to intervene when Israeli settlers besieged a Palestinian home in the village of Qusra.
Katz justified the policy shift by explicitly narrowing the military’s scope, stating, “The army’s role is to combat Palestinian terrorism … and not chase hilltop youth.” The Defence Ministry has indicated that the police will establish a dedicated, specialized force to handle these civilian matters, effectively removing the military from the oversight of settler-related violence.
However, Palestinian officials and a wide array of political experts warn this structural shift represents a dangerous acceleration of illegal annexation and ethnic cleansing. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that the settlers are the “spearhead in the process of annexation and Judaisation.”
Barghouti drew direct historical parallels to the mass displacement of Palestinians, stating, “They repeat what the Zionist terror gangs did in 1948, like the Haganah and the Stern Gang.” He warned that placing security in the hands of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and illegal Israeli settlements under Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich amounts to “handing over the West Bank to the settlers.”
He stressed that this is an open war on the population, adding, “The actual ruler in the West Bank is the known fascist terrorist Smotrich.” Analysts argue that replacing military occupation law with domestic civilian law fundamentally alters the legal reality of the territory, as domestic police are not bound by the same international humanitarian obligations as an occupying military force.
Mohanad Mustafa, an academic and researcher in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the decision legally erases the borders. “The government is dealing with the West Bank not as an occupied territory,” Mustafa said. He explained that by transferring power to a civilian police force, “this means that the government has annexed the West Bank.”
Mustafa warned that Ben-Gvir, who previously oversaw the demolition of thousands of Arab homes in Israel, will now command the police to “support the settlers more and more and push them more and more towards deepening their repression and terrorism against the Palestinians.” Even Israeli members of parliament have accused the army of being complicit in this transition, noting that the military has long failed to protect Palestinian civilians from settler violence.
Adel Shadid, an expert in Israeli affairs, noted that the subject has bypassed the issue of annexation to a post-annexation phase, creating a reality where the Palestinian finds himself forced to think about migration. Shadid dismissed recent US condemnations of settler violence as mere theatre to “mislead global public opinion,” arguing that the underlying project has full US backing and harmony between the two administrations.
Palestinian leadership strongly condemned the mandate. Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, described the move as a blatant violation of international law. The Palestinian group Hamas echoed this sentiment, calling the order a “dangerous step on the path to imposing de facto annexation” that provides “cover and more protection for the settlers’ crimes.”
Andrew Whitley, a former United Nations official and Chair of Trustees of the Britain Palestine Project, stressed that the planned transfer is “completely illegal” and urged immediate global intervention. He told Al Jazeera that the “Palestinian state is disappearing before our eyes,” demanding that the international community move beyond rhetoric.
“We have to do much more than just wring our hands and complain that governments are not doing anything about this,” Whitley said, calling for concrete sanctions to halt the rapid erasure of the Palestinian presence. As the transition moves forward, the international community faces mounting pressure to address the systemic dismantling of Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank.
He noted that the settlers have evolved into “fascist militia formations” that perform the state’s dirty work.
“These are fascist militia formations, and there are similar precedents in many countries that were ruled by fascism, whether in Spain, Italy, Germany, or even Chile,” Abu Ghosh said.
He added that these militias carry out roles that “require evading any discipline, rules, or laws” to achieve a “creeping, gradual annexation to make it a reality”.
Analysts stress that relieving the military of its duties essentially deputises settler violence, turning them into an armed extension of the state.
Shadi al-Shurafa, a researcher in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the situation is a textbook definition of segregation.
“We are facing an application of an overt racist apartheid system in the West Bank,” al-Shurafa said, noting it involves one regime operating with two entirely different laws based on ethnicity.
He added that the ultimate goal of the current government is carrying out complete ethnic cleansing and trapping Palestinians in “isolated cantons and isolated Bantustans”.