Israel is preparing to deploy civilian police forces in the West Bank in place of the military. The move is being viewed as advancing the process of annexing the occupied Palestinian territory to Israel. The information comes from a report by London-based Middle East-focused outlet Middle East Eye.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said last Friday that he has directed the military to draw up a plan to transfer law enforcement authority over civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank from the military to the police. According to Katz’s office, under the plan, police would need to “establish an appropriate force to handle and resolve civilian matters,” while the military would focus solely on combating “Palestinian terrorism” and protecting borders and settlements.
Katz said it makes sense to place responsibility for civilian oversight in the West Bank with police, since police handle such responsibilities “everywhere else in the State of Israel.” However, the announcement was made without any coordination with either the military or police beforehand. Israeli outlet Israel Hayom reported Friday that the military welcomed the move and had been pushing for such a change for weeks.
The report further said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police force, was also unaware the announcement was coming. Ben-Gvir has not yet commented on the plan. However, several other settler leaders have welcomed the announcement.
Israel Ganz, head of the West Bank’s Binyamin Regional Council, said that following Katz’s announcement, the Oslo Accords should be annulled and “full Israeli sovereignty” established over the occupied territory. Ganz said: “It is time to move away from temporary arrangements and fully apply Israeli law.”
A military request
Israeli outlet Ynet reported that Friday’s announcement stemmed from a request by military chief Eyal Zamir, who had sought to ease the military’s workload in the West Bank. Two weeks earlier, Zamir had told the Israeli cabinet that the military’s responsibilities in the Palestinian territory are continuously growing, because “new settlements will soon be established.”
According to the report, Zamir told ministers: “It is unbearable for IDF [Israeli military] soldiers to keep chasing after a few people who are giving the settlements a bad name.”
Here he was referring to settlers accused of terrorizing Palestinian communities. Zamir said the military is “working in cooperation with the police,” but that it is appropriate for the Israeli military to step back from such duties.
In a statement to Ynet on Friday, an Israeli military spokesperson said the military is conducting “internal, preliminary staff-level work” to review the “division of authority among security agencies” in the West Bank.
Katz’s statement referred to the entire West Bank, making no distinction between Areas A and B of the territory. In these two areas, civilian affairs are administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords. In Area C, by contrast, Israel exercises civilian authority. Israel has never formally annexed the West Bank to its territory — the region has remained under Israeli military occupation since 1967. However, over the past year, the Israeli government has taken several steps that experts say effectively amount to “de facto annexation.”
These include expanding the role of civilian agencies in administering the West Bank and reducing the military’s role in areas it has traditionally controlled. Under Israeli and international law, the military serves as the occupying authority in the West Bank, holding law enforcement power there, including over civilian matters.
Rising settler violence
Katz’s announcement comes amid a sharp rise in settler violence across the West Bank. Earlier in the week, Israeli settlers blockaded Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus.
Although the Israeli military said it was trying to remove them, settlers remained in the area as of Friday. Last week, veteran Ynet military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai said all three Israeli security agencies — the military, police, and Shin Bet — are “unable to enforce the law.” In his words, a small group of extremist settlers has effectively become “sovereign in the West Bank.” He added that the military is now only “ensuring their security and that of their whims.”
Speaking Friday, Ben-Yishai said Katz’s announcement amounts to “de facto annexation.” He also questioned the legal basis for the move, saying Israeli police do not even have enough officers to take on civilian authority across the West Bank.
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