Israel's Security Cabinet Approves Plan for Increased Military Control in West Bank

Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday, February 8, approved a plan to increase Israeli military control over the West Bank and expand settler activities.

The decision facilitates the purchase and seizure of Palestinian land and extends the authority of Israeli officials into areas currently administered by the Palestinian Authority under existing agreements.

Palestinians in the West Bank expressed deep concern over the announcement. Munther Al-Natsheh, a West Bank resident, said: “We Palestinians have suffered from successive Israeli governments even before October 7, but the right-wing government of Netanyahu and Smotrich has intensified these actions. Displacement, land destruction, property confiscation, killings, and devastation have increased.”

The United Nations, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and several other countries described the decision as a violation of international law, warning it could lead to annexation of occupied territories and the imposition of Israel’s sovereignty.

Reports indicate that since Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip began on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have intensified operations in the West Bank, including killings, mass arrests, displacement of Palestinians and expansion of settlements.

The West Bank, west of the Jordan River and bordering Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and Israel to the south, west and north along the “Green Line,” has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, along with the Gaza Strip forming Palestine.