Israel’s annexation of the West Bank has been occurring for decades

Last week Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, advanced first-reading bills to apply Israeli law in the occupied West Bank, prompting public pushback from Washington and a temporary pause ordered by the prime minister. The headlines suggest annexation has been checked. The record suggests otherwise.

Annexation already operates in practice. In recent years, powers once held by the Israeli army’s Civil Administration have been handed to civilian ministries, giving settler-aligned officials control over planning, land registration and infrastructure. Settlements receive state funding and legal protection, and West Bank land and tax systems are linked to Israeli administrative networks. These changes extend Israeli jurisdiction without any formal declaration.

This process did not begin with the current government. Working with the settler movement for decades, successive Israeli administrations have advanced settlement through cumulative administrative and planning decisions. On the ground, Israeli measures have reconfigured the West Bank for comprehensive Israeli control with minimal Palestinian presence.

Since 1967, the Israeli army has administered the West Bank through the Civil Administration, a unit of the Ministry of Defence that manages the affairs of settlers and Palestinians in the occupied territory. The current far-right government is shifting that authority, transferring functions step by step to civilian ministries and bodies aligned with the settlement movement. In 2023, under Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, it went so far as to create a Settlement Administration to oversee Palestinian land expropriation, issue mass demolition orders against Palestinian structures, fast-tracked settlement plans and advanced laws that expand settlement-council budgets. The Settlement Administration now holds authority over roughly 60 per cent of land in the West Bank, including in Area C and, increasingly, Area B.

Recent decisions include diverting municipal tax revenues to settlement councils and placing parts of the West Bank inside Israeli municipal budgeting and service systems. Some Palestinian villages have recently been reclassified as becoming Israeli and requiring residents to obtain permits to remain in their own homes.

Another cornerstone on the path to formal annexation is the surge in settlement growth since this government took office. Settlement blocs receive record funding for expansion, with infrastructure linking them to Israeli cities. Road 60, the main highway running north to south through the West Bank, now largely serves settlement traffic, and Palestinian access is restricted. The government has moved to implement E1, which would split the West Bank. Israeli peace organisations report new outposts and settler roads each week.

In May, the Israeli government approved 22 new settlements deep in the West Bank — the largest expansion since the Oslo “peace” process began 30 years ago. This follows a chain of decisions to establish settlements in the West Bank, bringing the number of new settlements approved since this government took office in 2023 to more than 50.

Settlements are not a Netanyahu-era phenomenon, though. Since the start of the Oslo “peace” process in 1993, the settler population in the West Bank has risen from fewer than 100,000 to roughly 500,000 today, around one in five residents in the West Bank is now a settler. Including East Jerusalem, the total settler population is well above 700,000. At least 40 per cent of the West Bank is allocated to settlement activity.

Unsurprisingly, this sharp rise has led to an increase in violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, reaching record levels since 1967. The past two years have been the deadliest of the occupation, with more than 1000 Palestinians killed, including 129 children, by Israeli soldiers or settlers. Thousands of settler attacks have been reported, causing casualties and widespread damage to homes, farms and vehicles. Since January 2024, 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank, including at least 1800 related to settler violence.

Settler violence is organised and purposeful. It terrorises Palestinians, disrupts daily life and forces families from their land. It acts as an auxiliary enforcement arm of the settlement project, aimed at land seizure and dispossession. For years, Israeli authorities minimised or ignored crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank. Only 3 per cent of Israeli police investigations into settler attacks ended in a full or partial conviction. Under the current government, this impunity has hardened into open political backing for ideologically motivated attacks.