{"id":587687,"date":"2026-08-17T19:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/587687\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T19:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:18:15","slug":"katz-idf-has-2-weeks-to-draft-plan-to-hand-west-bank-civilian-enforcement-to-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/587687\/","title":{"rendered":"Katz: IDF has 2 weeks to draft plan to hand West Bank civilian enforcement to police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to submit within two weeks a plan to \u201ctransfer responsibility for civilian enforcement in the West Bank to the Israel Police,\u201d a move widely seen as impractical in the lead-up to a national election.<\/p>\n

According to statement from Katz\u2019s office, during a meeting with top military and defense officials Sunday night, he said he \u201cexpressed an unequivocal position against violence and the taking of the law into their own hands by unauthorized parties,\u201d apparently alluding to recent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

He also \u201cstressed the need for enforcement in all civilian aspects in the West Bank to be handled by the Israel Police through effective and efficient inter-organizational cooperation,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was agreed that the IDF would submit a comprehensive plan on the matter within two weeks, which would subsequently be coordinated with the Israel Police and subject to the IDF\u2019s authorities in the field,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Katz said Friday that<\/a> he had instructed the IDF to formulate a plan to transfer civilian enforcement powers in the West Bank from the military to the police.<\/p>\n

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It was unclear what impact such a measure would have on the ground. Israel has never formally annexed the West Bank, and therefore, the IDF has been responsible for enforcement in the area. In addition, the IDF already hands any suspects detained in the West Bank over to the police for interrogation or arrest.<\/p>\n

Katz seemed to be implying he wanted police to be fully in charge of handling settlers and for the military to wash its hands of the issue.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIsraeli settlers patrol a road in front of besieged Palestinian houses, in the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, August 17, 2026. (AP Photo\/Majdi Mohammed)<\/p>\n

The IDF detains Jews only briefly in cases of criminal activity before handing them over to police officers, who often release the suspects without charge, including in cases of rampant and sometimes deadly settler violence.<\/p>\n

On Monday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, endorsed Katz\u2019s proposal, calling it \u201ca significant step toward Israeli sovereignty\u201d in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

He added that authority over Border Police in the West Bank should also be moved from the IDF to the police, so they could be used against \u201canarchists\u201d and \u201canti-Zionist movements opposed to the State of Israel\u201d \u2014 echoing language often used to refer to\u00a0left-wing activists from Israel or abroad who volunteer with Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Katz\u2019s announcement came amid a surge in settler violence and a siege by violent settlers on Palestinian residents of the village of Qusra that has lasted over a week.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Katz said on Wednesday he would be advancing the legalization of outpost farms in the West Bank, which are technically illegal under Israeli law but were established with full government backing. There are currently 126 settlement farms.<\/p>\n

According to Katz, IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth supports the legalization of the farms, \u201cbased on advance planning and subject to security approval, in a manner that would contribute to security in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activists on the ground have said those behind attacks on Palestinians are Israelis who have established the illegal outposts throughout the West Bank in record numbers over the past three years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government has provided significant funding and protection to these wildcat communities, which critics say are being used as a tool to dispossess Palestinians of their lands.<\/p>\n

Katz also said Monday that the IDF must prepare to \u201cseize and clear another\u201d Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank \u2014 similar to operations carried out by the army in early 2025 \u2014 but only if terrorism increases there, after previously instructing the army to carry out such a move regardless.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to submit within…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[191024,85,46,2723,1158,43,77721,77,123131],"class_list":["post-587687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-idf-israel-defense-forces","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-katz","tag-israel-police","tag-news","tag-settler-violence","tag-west-bank","tag-west-bank-settlements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587687","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=587687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}