“Union for Justice Foundation”: Transferring Law Enforcement Powers in Settlement-Related Cases to the Occupation Police Is Another Step Toward the Annexation of the West Bank
17/08/2026 – Union for Justice Foundation
The Union for Justice Foundation stated that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to transfer law-enforcement powers in civil matters related to settlements to the Israel Police represents an advanced step toward a plan to annex the West Bank and abolish the Oslo Accords.
The Foundation noted that the Israeli far right is seeking to impose new facts on the ground that no future government would be able to overcome, particularly given the possibility that Netanyahu’s coalition could lose the Knesset elections scheduled for October, according to opinion polls.
The Foundation stressed that transferring law-enforcement powers over settlements in the West Bank from the military to the police effectively means integrating settlement administration into the official bureaucratic structure of the Israeli state.
It added: “This decision could lead to the legalization of all settlement outposts that are considered ‘illegal’ even under Israeli law, as the police would assume responsibility for protecting them and regulating their affairs instead of evacuating them. This shift would make it increasingly difficult in the future to distinguish between the borders of the recognized state and the occupied territories, thereby eliminating any remaining prospects for a two-state solution.”
These developments come at a time when the West Bank is witnessing an unprecedented escalation in settler attacks against Palestinians and their property. International reports have indicated that these attacks are often carried out under the protection of the occupation forces, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of Palestinian families from their pastoral and agricultural communities.
The Foundation added: “With his latest decision, Katz is seeking to kill several birds with one stone. He wants to show the world that settlers are merely civilians whom the military should not deal with harshly, and that this responsibility should instead fall to the police, which ultimately reports to the extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in turn will provide greater protection to settlers rather than pursue them.”
A Field Vacuum Facilitating Settler Activities
Under Israeli law, the Israeli police are prohibited from entering Areas A and B of the West Bank under the Oslo Accords. Since the new decision prevents the military from taking action against settlers, this means, in this case, that settlers would face no form of accountability or pursuit—neither by the military nor by the police—if they carry out attacks against Palestinians.
Minister Israel Katz is also seeking to prevent the Israeli military from intervening should the political leadership decide in the future to remove some settlement outposts deemed illegal, while emphasizing that all Israeli settlements, regardless of their designation, are illegal. The argument is that such matters would fall under the jurisdiction of the police rather than the military.
Another Discriminatory Decision
The Union for Justice Foundation stated: “This decision is not significantly different from other discriminatory decisions issued by the extremist Israeli government. It seeks to subject the settler who steals land to a largely lenient civil law, while keeping Palestinians under the grip of stringent military laws.”
The Foundation noted that Palestinian civilians have now become victims of internal Israeli disputes between the military and police leadership, ahead of the upcoming Knesset elections.
Leaders of the settlement movements welcomed Katz’s latest decision, viewing it as an implicit acknowledgment that the military administration’s role in the lives of settlers is coming to an end and that there is a move toward fully imposing Israeli civil law.
Israel Gantz, head of the settlement council, described the move as “necessary to correct a distorted reality,” calling for continued efforts to abolish the Oslo Accords and impose full Israeli sovereignty over what they call “Judea and Samaria.” He considered that the time had come for settlers to live as any other citizens within Israel.
The Union for Justice Foundation concluded: “It is important to point out that, through this decision, the occupation seeks to distract the international community with details and technicalities related to settlements and to keep it occupied with the question of which body is supposed to exercise legal jurisdiction over them—the police or the military? This is intended to make the root of the problem—the settlement enterprise as a whole—fade from view. Under international law, settlement activity, in all its forms and designations and regardless of which authority is responsible for it, is entirely illegal and contrary to international resolutions.”
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