Administrative Coup in the West Bank: Occupation Transfers Powers to Settlers, Turns Land into Real Estate Market

Israeli policy towards the West Bank has undergone a radical transformation following the government's approval to transfer extensive powers, historically exclusive to the occupation army, to civilian ministries led by ministers from the settler movement. This measure is not merely an increase in settlement activity; rather, it aims to institutionalize 'administrative annexation' by integrating the West Bank's administration into the civilian structure of the occupying state.

Through this administrative coup, the occupation authorities seek to reduce direct military involvement in the lives of the residents, in an attempt to circumvent international pressure and legal prosecution in international courts. Israel is betting on presenting the new reality as a regulatory or administrative dispute instead of a direct military occupation subject to international law.

New decisions include empowering settlement councils to receive massive and direct funding from the budgets of Israeli ministries, such as the Ministries of Transport, Housing, and Finance. This financial influx aims to develop settlement infrastructure without the need to go through the complex military channels that were previously followed.

This economic strategy aims to lower the cost of living in settlements and make living in the West Bank an attractive option for Israelis through massive government support. Israel thus seeks to achieve 'economic normalization' that makes settlement a profitable investment project openly supported by the state treasury.

In a step described as the most dangerous, the Israeli government abolished administrative restrictions that hindered the transfer of land ownership to settlers, turning the West Bank into something akin to an open 'real estate market'. This change allows individuals and intermediary companies to purchase land directly, transforming land from a strategic resource in a national conflict into a commodity subject to the laws of supply and demand.

Historically, lands in the West Bank were subject to complex Jordanian laws and military approvals that prevented sales to non-Arabs, but the new laws have overturned these rules. Through this step, Israel hopes to impose a demographic reality that is difficult to reverse, where settlement expansion becomes linked to private ownership protected by Israeli civil law.

Under these decisions, a parallel legal system has been established that fully applies Israeli laws within settlements, thereby entrenching an 'administrative apartheid' system. While settlers enjoy full citizenship rights and are subject to civil courts, their Palestinian neighbors remain subject to customary military rulings and administrative demolition laws.

This legal separation firmly establishes settler sovereignty through civil law, while entrenching Palestinian oppression through military force, creating two different judicial systems on the same geographical area. This step is a blatant violation of international conventions that prohibit changing prevailing laws in occupied territories to serve the occupying power.

This shift has provided legal cover for what has become known as 'pastoral settlement', where extensive powers are granted to settlers to control vast areas of land. This is done under various pretexts such as protecting antiquities or practicing grazing, which is an effective means of confiscating thousands of dunams without the need for official military decisions.

Among the dangerous field repercussions, the government decided to begin the work of law enforcement agencies belonging to the Civil Administration in Areas (A) and (B). These areas were administratively subject to the Palestinian Authority according to the 'Oslo II' agreement, meaning that the occupation will begin to carry out demolitions and prevent Palestinian development in the heart of cities and villages.

Observers believe that this Israeli administrative expansion represents the actual collapse of the Oslo Accords on the ground before their political collapse is announced. Direct intervention in Areas (A) and (B) strips the Palestinian Authority of its remaining sovereign powers and renders it merely an administrative structure without real authority on the ground.

Turning the West Bank into a real estate market and lifting restrictions on land purchases also aims to affect the real estate market within Israel by increasing the supply of settlement units. This economic link reinforces the dependence of the settlement economy on the comprehensive Israeli system and makes the idea of future separation almost impossible.

These measures confirm that the current Israeli government has moved from the stage of 'managing the conflict' to the stage of 'resolving the conflict' through civilian and legal tools. Control over land no longer requires only tanks and soldiers, but is now achieved through land registration offices, civil courts, and direct ministerial funding.

In conclusion, these decisions represent a strategic turning point aimed at creating irreversible facts in the West Bank in preparation for actual annexation. This administrative coup presents the international community with a new challenge, as Israel seeks to legitimize its occupation by transforming it into an integrated administrative and legal system that bypasses all signed agreements.

Israel seeks to impose a new demographic and geographical reality through purchase, not just military confiscation, making disengagement from these lands impossible in the future.