Arabic version: إسرائيل تأمر بخطة لشرطة الضفة الغربية

According to Al Jazeera, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Friday to prepare a plan to transfer civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police. The Defence Ministry indicated that police would establish a dedicated force for civilian matters.

The decision followed criticism of the army’s handling of Israeli settlers who besieged a Palestinian home in Qusra, Haaretz reported. Katz said the army’s role was to combat “Palestinian terrorism” rather than pursue “hilltop youth”. Palestinian politicians and analysts said the proposed change would accelerate illegal annexation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, called settlers the “spearhead in the process of annexation and Judaisation”. Mohanad Mustafa, an academic and researcher in Israeli affairs, said moving authority to a civilian police force meant the government was treating the West Bank not as occupied territory and had effectively annexed it.

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, condemned the order as an attempt to impose Israeli law and sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Hamas called it a dangerous move towards de facto annexation that would provide greater protection for settler attacks.

Andrew Whitley, a former United Nations official and chair of trustees of the Britain Palestine Project, described the planned transfer as “completely illegal” and called for concrete sanctions. He said the Palestinian state was “disappearing before our eyes” and urged international action beyond condemnation.