With Israeli elections approaching faster than ever, the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is escalating the implementation of its colonial measures across the occupied Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank.
Many analysts argue that Netanyahu’s government is pursuing a policy of mass killing and destruction across the West Asia region to gain support and remain in power, with the greatest focus placed on the Palestinian people. Israel has continued the genocidal aggression on Gaza and at the same time, settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are growing more violent – often launched under the protection of Israeli Forces.
Read more: Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has doubled this year
Police control over West Bank tightens the grip of Ben-Gvir over Palestinian territories
On Friday, August 14, Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced that he instructed Israeli Forces to transfer all “civilian” law enforcement authority for Israelis in the West Bank to the Israel Police.
The presence of Israeli settlers in territories occupied by Israel is illegal under International Law, particularly Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,” the article stipulates.
Katz claims that the step is part of a broader strategy to reshape the military’s role in the West Bank. He explained that the Israeli Army’s role should be limited to countering Palestinian resistance and focusing on defending the borders and Israeli communities against threats.
This means that Israeli soldiers will not be permitted to act against Israeli settlers who carry out attacks against Palestinians or their property. Instead, responsibility will fall strictly to the police, who operate under the political authority of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Ben-Gvir is known for his racist incitement, and extremist actions against Palestinians in general, and Palestinian prisoners in particular. He also led repeated assaults on Palestinian worship places and spearheaded a campaign to arm Israeli settlers.
Read more: Ben-Gvir provokes Palestinians with threat to prominent Palestinian leader and prisoner Marwan Barghouti
Last month, Ben-Gvir advanced yet another brutal plan against Palestinians. The plan proposed surrounding Ketziot Prison (also known as Negev Prison), where Palestinian political prisoners are detained, with a moat filled with Nile crocodiles.
An Israeli court issued a decision halting the transfer of crocodiles and stopping excavation work temporarily, after receiving a petition from an Israeli animal rights group.
The petition argued that the plan causes animal suffering and ignores professional wildlife advice, but it overlooked the lives and dignity of Palestinian prisoners inside the detention facility and the impact of the plan on the Palestinian people as a whole. For many, this is yet another reflection of Israel’s policy of dehumanization toward Palestinians.
The head of the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, Minister Raed Abu al-Hummus, reacted to the plan by blaming the international community for its “silence and cowardice” in the face of Ben-Gvir’s actions.
He also called on the international community to “free itself from blind subservience to capitalism and the influence of the Zionist lobby.”
Read more: “We will never abandon our prisoners alone in their struggle,” says former Palestinian prisoner
Palestinian and Israeli officials label Katz’s order as unlawful
Both Palestinian and Israeli officials criticized Katz’s decision for violating international law and Israeli law.
Israeli Knesset Member Gilad Kariv, of the Democrats party, stated on X that Katz’s order contradicts Israeli law, international law, and Israel’s “national security interests.”
He also pointed out that the order sends a clear message to Israeli troops in the field not to act against “Jewish terror and the hilltop gangs.”
“Commanders who act will be harmed,” he affirmed.
“Katz is the Iron Dome of Jewish terror in the territories.
We will dismantle it,” Kariv added.
For his part, Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh denounced the move as a “blatant violation of international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and signed agreements.”
Al-Sheikh said that the decision “represents a new attempt to impose Israeli law and sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to entrench the unlawful annexation of Palestinian territory.”
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