Annexation in all but name

JVL Introduction

The annexation of the West Bank has long been the stated goal of Israel’s right-wing: in the words of Likud’s 1977 election manifesto: “Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”

Until now the Civil Administration, a branch of the Israeli army, has been responsible for Area C, the 60% of the West Bank which, under Oslo, is “temporarily” under full Israeli administrative and security control.

It has been part of the fiction that the occupation, too, is only temporary.

Now, under the aegis of extreme right minister Bezalel Smotrich responsibility for dozens of bylaws has been given to civilian officials led by Smotrich at the defence ministry, as Peter Beaumont reports for the Guardian.

As Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst for Israel-Palestine at Crisis Group, has said: “The big story is that this is no longer ‘creeping annexation’ or ‘de facto annexation’, it is actual annexation.”

And Haaretz reports on a speech by Smotrich to settlers in which he is quite explicit: “Its intended goal is annexation of the West Bank with much less attention.”

Annexation in all but name… Why are the British and US governments so eerily silent on this?

RK

IDF transfers powers in occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants

The Israeli military has quietly handed over significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for the far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The transfer of laws, which was largely unremarked upon in Israel, follows a years-long campaign by pro-settlement politicians to accrue many of the legal powers previously wielded by the military chain of command.

The laws cover everything from building regulations to the administration of agriculture, forestry, parks and bathing locations. Lawyers have long warned that transferring them from military to political control would risk bringing Israel into conflict with its responsibilities under international law. After entering government, Smotrich moved quickly to approve thousands of new settlement homes, legalise previously unauthorised wildcat outposts, and make it more difficult for Palestinians to build homes and move around.

Reports in the Israeli media say US officials have privately discussed the possibility of imposing sanctions on Smotrich over his destabilising impact on the West Bank, where he lives in a settlement that is illegal under international law.

Netanyahu has become more reliant on the support of Smotrich and other far-right elements of his coalition government since the moderate former defence minister Benny Gantz quit Israel’s emergency war cabinet in a row over strategy in the Gaza war and how to bring home Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Smotrich has made no secret of his desire to carve out his own stronghold in the ministry of defence to pursue his policies, downplaying the significance as merely technical.

In April, Smotrich appointed a long-term ideological ally, Hillel Roth, as the deputy in the Civil Administration with responsibility for enforcing building regulations in settlements and outposts.

Roth is a former resident of Yitzhar, a West Bank settlement with a reputation for violence and extremism. He served as an official with Bnei Akiva, an NGO linked to Smotrich’s Religious Zionist party.

Sfard said the transfer meant legal power in the West Bank was now in the hands of “an apparatus headed by an Israeli minister … whose only interest is to advance Israeli interests”.

Equally important, Sfard said, was that although the head of the Civil Administration is an officer subordinate to the military command, Roth is a civilian who answers to Smotrich.

Sfard’s view echoes a legal opinion published by three Israeli jurists last year who warned that transferring powers from the military would amount to annexation in law, as Smotirch “considers himself committed first and foremost to advancing the interests of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, rather than the welfare of Palestinian residents”.

Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst for Israel-Palestine at Crisis Group, said: “The big story is that this is no longer ‘creeping annexation’ or ‘de facto annexation’, it is actual annexation.

“This is the legalisation [and] normalisation of a long-term policy. Smotrich is basically re-establishing the way in which the occupation works by taking a large part out of the hands of the military.

“Half the people he has brought in to the defence ministry are from [the pro-settler Israeli NGO] Regavim. The same people who worked at Regavim to disposess Palestinians in Area C are now in government positions.”

Smotrich added that he created “a separate civilian system” while allowing the defense ministry to be involved, to create the impression that the army maintains authority.

“Reporters for The New York Times listened to a recording of the roughly half-hour speech that was provided by one of the attendees, a researcher from Peace Now,” the report read. “A spokesman for Mr. Smotrich, Eytan Fold, confirmed he gave the speech and said the event was not a secret.”

Israel’s top court has long provided tacit approval for the occupation through ruling that it is a temporary military occupation and not a permanent civilian annexation overseen by civil servants.

The recording comes as several countries, among them Armenia, Spain, Ireland and Norway, have recognized a Palestinian state amid the Israel-Hamas war.