Trawida: The West Bank is under Ben Gvir's "guard"!
In a further violation of international humanitarian law, though hardly new for the occupying entity, Israel is pushing the West Bank one step closer to de facto annexation by transferring law enforcement powers concerning settlers from the military to the Israeli police. This move redraws the equation of control on the ground: a settler enjoys protection from the institutions and authorities of the occupation, while a Palestinian, the rightful owner of the land, faces prosecution, violence, and displacement under the rule of law.
The gravity of Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz’s decision lies not merely in changing the authority responsible for law enforcement, but in the gradual transfer of settler affairs from the framework of military administration in the occupied territory to the Israeli civil and security system. This reinforces the integration of settlements into the institutions of the occupying state and entrenches annexation on the ground.
In response to this trajectory, it is insufficient for the Palestinian Authority to confine itself to statements of condemnation and denunciation. Facts are changing on the ground, while the official Palestinian response remains trapped in the realm of rhetoric. What is required is a political, legal, and diplomatic initiative that places states and international organizations under their responsibilities, tracks annexation and settlement measures, and prevents them from becoming a permanent fait accompli. This also demands Palestinian unity and the abandonment of differences that widen the gap between the two largest factions, Fatah and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), because it is ultimately the Palestinian people who will pay the price, regardless of their differing political and ideological orientations.
Even more alarming is that these powers will be transferred to the police, which is overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most prominent symbols of the Israeli far-right and an explicit supporter of settlement and expansion in Palestinian territories. When an institution subordinate to this policy becomes a key party in managing the relationship between settlers and Palestinians, the question is no longer “who applies the law?” but rather “to whom is the law applied, and for whom is protection provided?”
In conclusion, we are facing an attempt to root settlers in Palestinian land and displace and uproot Palestinians from their homeland, within the framework of a settler-colonial project that intersects fundamentally with Western colonial logic, which has historically treated Palestine and the region as a space for reshaping land and populations according to the interests of dominant powers. However, what changes the equation of occupation is the Palestinian people’s ability to resist this project, cling to their land and rights, and thwart attempts to turn occupation, settlement, and annexation into a permanent fait accompli.
