Palestinian politicians and analysts have issued urgent warnings regarding an Israeli directive that they describe as a calculated move to formalize the illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank. The policy shift, which critics argue accelerates apartheid and ethnic cleansing, marks a fundamental change in how the territory is governed and policed.
On Friday, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to prepare a comprehensive plan for transferring civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, this decision follows intense public and political criticism regarding the military’s handling of Israeli settlers who recently besieged a Palestinian home in the village of Qusra.
Katz justified the structural shift by stating, “The army’s role is to combat Palestinian terrorism … and not chase hilltop youth.” The Defence Ministry indicated that the police would establish a dedicated force specifically tasked with handling these civilian matters, effectively removing the military from day-to-day interactions with settler populations.
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.” He 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.”
Barghouti warned that placing security in the hands of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and placing illegal Israeli settlements under the authority of 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.”
Mohanad Mustafa, an academic and researcher in Israeli affairs, noted that the decision legally erases the borders between Israel and the occupied territory. “The government is dealing with the West Bank not as an occupied territory,” Mustafa said, explaining that by transferring power to a civilian police force, “this means that the government has annexed the West Bank.”
Mustafa further 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 these actions, creating a vacuum that the new police force is expected to fill with increased aggression.
Political analyst Abu Ghosh characterized the shift as the formalization of militia rule. “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, highlighting the danger of integrating such groups into the state’s official security apparatus.
Adel Shadid, an expert in Israeli affairs, argued that the move pushes the Palestinian population toward a crisis of existence. “The subject has bypassed the issue of annexation to a post-annexation phase and creating a reality where the Palestinian finds himself forced to think about migration,” Shadid said. He dismissed recent US condemnations of settler violence as mere theatre intended to “mislead global public opinion,” noting that the project enjoys full American backing.
The Palestinian leadership has 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 settler 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 empty 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 to civilian police control begins, observers fear that the lack of military oversight will lead to an unchecked escalation of violence against Palestinian communities across the West Bank.
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”.
“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”.
Analysts stress that relieving the military of its duties essentially deputises settler violence, turning them into an armed extension of the state.
The dual legal framework resulting from this shift has drawn sharp international and local criticism.
Shadi al-Shurafa, a researcher in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the situation is a textbook definition of segregation.
Source: Aljazeera
