Israel has placed primary responsibility for the occupied West Bank under an administrator under a hard-line government minister who supports annexing the territory, in what analysts and rights activists say is the latest step toward far-right forces’ drive to expand Israeli settlements there.
The administrative move is a long-standing goal of Finance Minister and settler leader Bezalel Smotrich, strengthening his formal authority over many areas of civilian life, including building and demolition permits, a key lever for settlers who see construction as a way to tighten their grip on the West Bank.
The move follows a series of measures that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s most right-wing figure in history, has implemented in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October. It has cracked down on the territory with near-daily military raids allegedly targeting terrorists and enacted new restrictions that have emboldened settlers and put further economic pressure on Palestinians.
The order to install a civilian leader in the area previously under military control was issued as a military decree on Sunday and was part of a long-debated agreement reached by government ministers, according to Israeli media reports. It also names a deputy civilian leader for the West Bank who will report to Smotrich, an ultranationalist in Netanyahu’s coalition government who has a wide range of duties in the West Bank.
Settlers like Smotrich want to build more Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank on land that Palestinians hope will be the heart of a future Palestinian state. Previous Israeli governments and generals have built and protected hundreds of settlements, but the order is likely to speed up the process, analysts and activists say.
Critics have already accused Smotrich and his allies of failing to crack down on illegal settlement construction and settler violence, and obstructing measures to enforce the law.
“We’re talking about a change with a very clear political dimension: that any plans for settlement construction would be allowed very quickly and without any obstacles,” said Michael Milstein, a Palestinian studies expert and author at Tel Aviv University.
Critics say Smotrich’s long-held goal of moving to civilian rule, which the army has provided security and civilian rule in much of the West Bank for decades, would tie decision-making more closely to Israeli domestic politics, though analysts say Defense Minister Yoav Galant could retain a say and block certain measures.
Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israeli non-governmental organization Ir Amim, called the order “historic”: “It marks the first time that formal control of the West Bank will be exercised through the Israeli civilian system rather than the military.”
Civilian political influence over the military government already existed to some extent, albeit in a less visible way, he said, “but now that influence is no longer exerted.”
A spokesman for Mr. Smotrich did not respond to a request for comment.
The new administration nominee, Hillel Roth, is a settler and member of the religious nationalist community and analysts say he is likely to act to further Smotrich’s agenda.
Milstein said Smotrich was also seeking to weaken the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank. In May, Smotrich announced that Israel would withhold revenues from the authority, worsening its severe financial crisis.
Since Israel captured the Jordanian-controlled West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the Israeli government has encouraged Jews to settle there by providing land, military protection, electricity, water and roads. Today, the area is home to 2.7 million Palestinians, including more than 500,000 settlers.
Most of the world considers the settlements illegal. Some Israeli Jews justify them on religious grounds, while others base their justification on ancient and modern history.
