Palestinian politicians and analysts have warned against what they describe as an Israeli plan to illegally annex the occupied West Bank by implementing a series of decisions and actions under different pretexts.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Defence Minister Israel Katz, on Friday, ordered the military to prepare a plan\u00a0for\u00a0transferring civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police.<\/p>\n
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the decision follows criticism over the army\u2019s handling of Israeli settlers who besieged a Palestinian home in the village of Qusra<\/a>.<\/p>\n Katz justified the shift, saying, \u201cThe army\u2019s role is to combat Palestinian terrorism \u2026 and not chase hilltop youth<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Defence Ministry indicated the police would establish a dedicated force to handle these civilian matters.<\/p>\n However, Palestinian officials and a wide array of political experts warn this structural shift represents a dangerous acceleration of illegal annexation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\n Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that the settlers are the \u201cspearhead in the process of annexation and Judaisation\u201d.<\/p>\n He drew direct historical parallels to the mass displacement of Palestinians, stating, \u201cThey repeat what the Zionist terror gangs did in 1948, like the Haganah and the Stern Gang.\u201d<\/p>\n Barghouti warned that placing security in the hands of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and illegal Israeli settlements under Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich<\/a> amounts to \u201chanding over the West Bank to the settlers\u201d.<\/p>\n He stressed that this is an open war on the population, adding, \u201cThe actual ruler in the West Bank is the known fascist terrorist Smotrich.\u201d<\/p>\n De facto annexation<\/p>\n Analysts argue that replacing military occupation law with domestic civilian law fundamentally alters the legal reality of the territory. Mohanad Mustafa, an academic and researcher in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the decision legally erases the borders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government is dealing with the West Bank not as an occupied territory,\u201d Mustafa said. He explained that by transferring power to a civilian police force, \u201cthis means that the government has annexed the West Bank\u201d.<\/p>\n He noted this move absolves the military of its obligations under international law, placing enforcement under Ben-Gvir<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mustafa warned that Ben-Gvir, who previously oversaw the demolition of thousands of Arab homes in Israel, will now command the police to \u201csupport the settlers more and more and push them more and more towards deepening their repression and terrorism against the Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n