{"id":280931,"date":"2026-02-08T18:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T18:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/280931\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T18:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T18:00:09","slug":"israel-tightens-grip-on-west-bank-ahead-of-netanyahus-visit-to-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/280931\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel tightens grip on West Bank ahead of Netanyahu\u2019s visit to US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tel Aviv, Israel
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019<\/a>s visit to Washington, DC, this week, Israel has taken a series of sweeping steps to tighten its grip on the occupied West Bank.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Sunday, Israel\u2019s security cabinet approved measures that expand the country\u2019s enforcement powers and allow the state to buy land for the expansion of settlements in a way that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said would \u201cfundamentally change the legal and civil reality\u201d in the West Bank. The territory is held by the United Nations and the international community for a future Palestinian state.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Israeli steps include expanding Israeli enforcement in Areas A and B of the West Bank<\/a>, which were designated under the Oslo Accords as areas that fall under Palestinian security control. The two areas together make up approximately 40% of the territory.\n <\/p>\n

\n Israel will also restart its Land Acquisition Committee, which allows the state to proactively purchase lands in the West Bank for the expansion of settlements. Another measure grants the civil administration and the tiny Jewish settler minority in the city of Hebron building and municipal powers, allowing the settlement to expand without a need to consult with the Palestinian municipality of Hebron.\n <\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/p>\n

\n The security cabinet also approved measures that will make it easier for settlers to purchase land in the occupied West Bank, a move designed to expand settlement activity and entrench the Jewish population.\n <\/p>\n

\n Smotrich, who has openly boasted of his efforts to kill the idea of a Palestinian state, said in a statement, \u201cWe are normalizing life in the territories, removing bureaucratic barriers, fighting for the land, and deepening our presence throughout the Land of Israel.\u201d Smotrich, who also serves as the deputy defense minister, has pushed for a rapid expansion of settlements, particularly under US President Donald Trump.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe will continue to extinguish the idea of a Palestinian state,\u201d Smotrich said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Palestinian Authority (PA) condemned the latest measures, calling them \u201ca continuation of the comprehensive war waged by the occupation government against the Palestinian people and an unprecedented escalation targeting the Palestinian presence and its national and historical rights across all Palestinian land.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In a statement, the presidency of the PA said it amounts to \u201cthe practical implementation of annexation and displacement plans.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement the decisions taken by Israel \u201cconfirm its colonial program aimed at swallowing all Palestinian land and displacing its indigenous people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war and subsequently began establishing Jewish settlements there, which are considered illegal under international law, the United Nations and by much of the international community. The UN also regards the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territory, which the Palestinians seek for a future state.\n <\/p>\n

\n In an interview with Time Magazine in October, Trump said he would not<\/a> allow Israel to annex the West Bank. \u201cIt won\u2019t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.\u201d The Trump administration\u2019s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan also speaks of a pathway to \u201cPalestinian self-determination and statehood.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But Israel has pursued a policy that critics equate to de facto annexation, expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territory and deepening the country\u2019s grip on the West Bank with the declared intent of making a Palestinian state impossible. Last May, Israel authorized the largest expansion of settlements in the West Bank in decades, approving the establishment of 22 new settlements.\n <\/p>\n

\n In response to the latest measures, the anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said, \u201cNetanyahu promised to dismantle Hamas in Gaza, but in practice he chose to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, annul agreements Israel itself signed, and impose de facto annexation \u2013 in complete contradiction to the will of the people, Israel\u2019s national interest, and the clear position of President Trump.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Gershon Baskin, a peace activist who has played a crucial role in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the years, said in a blunt statement on social media, \u201cThe Israeli occupation is illegal and now the government of Israel is taking more steps against international law.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tel Aviv, Israel \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s visit to Washington, DC, this week, Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-280931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}