Israel pursuing ‘undeclared annexation’ of West Bank, Peace Now says
A leading Israeli advocacy group has accused the government of pursuing the undeclared annexation of the occupied West Bank through coordinated measures that undermine the Oslo Accords.
Peace Now, which monitors Israeli violations in the West Bank, said the measures include broadening the powers of the Israeli Civil Administration, expanding settlements and weakening the Palestinian Authority.
“Netanyahu’s government is playing with fire, disregarding its international commitments and endangering Israel’s security - all in order to take control of more territory and land in the West Bank,” the movement said in the report, obtained and reported by Ynet on Tuesday.
One of the measures was introduced in February, when the security cabinet authorised the Civil Administration to enforce regulations and oversee environmental protection, water and archaeology in Areas A and B of the West Bank.
The Civil Administration is a body under Israel’s defence ministry that implements civilian policies in the occupied West Bank.
The government said the move was aimed at preventing environmental hazards and damage to heritage sites.
Peace Now said the environmental and archaeological measures use definitions broad enough to enable Israeli civilian authorities to intervene in Palestinian construction across much of the West Bank.
Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C as a temporary administrative arrangement that remains in place.
Area A is under full Palestinian Authority control for civil administration and internal security and includes major Palestinian cities.
Area B is under Palestinian civil administration, while security responsibilities are shared with Israel. It includes smaller towns and rural villages.
Area C, which accounts for about 60 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli civil and security control. Most Israeli settlements and military bases are located there, built on Palestinian land.
Despite the accords, Israeli forces have operated inside Areas A and B for years. However, civilian interventions have largely been restricted to Area C until now.
In June, the Civil Administration also moved to strip the Palestinian municipality of Hebron of broad planning and construction powers relating to settlements and several holy sites in the heart of the city.
The Peace Now report also cited Israeli military orders issued in July to requisition Palestinian land inside Area A for a road connecting two settlements.
The movement said it was the first time since the Oslo Accords were signed that military land-requisition orders had been used inside Area A for an explicitly civilian settlement purpose, rather than for military purposes.
The group said it had also documented at least 23 settlement outposts established in Areas B over the past two and a half years.
Even when the military occasionally removes the outposts, Peace Now said, they are rebuilt and expanded, including with permanent structures.
The outposts have been accompanied by the construction of roads, the takeover of water sources and the displacement of Palestinian residents.
Settlers have also taken over abandoned Palestinian homes in Areas B and C after residents were forced to leave following repeated settler attacks.
“The government’s actions in Areas A and B are not isolated incidents but part of an organised policy whose ultimate goal is to collapse the Palestinian Authority and create chaos that would allow it to expand settlements into cities and villages deep inside the West Bank,” the report said.
‘Only the beginning’
The measures in the West Bank come as the government carries out an organised and “consistent” campaign to weaken the Palestinian Authority economically, politically, territorially and in terms of security, Peace Now said.
One of the main tools used to pressure the Palestinian Authority is the withholding of tax revenues collected by Israel on its behalf under the 1994 Paris Protocol.
The revenues amount to about 11 billion shekels (around $3.66bn) a year and have historically accounted for more than 60 percent of the Palestinian Authority’s budget, according to Ynet.
'I am proud of the settlement revolution I have led to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state'
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Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli minister
Peace Now said only about half of the funds owed to the Palestinian Authority were transferred under the current government between 2022 and 2025. Since June 2025, not a single shekel has been transferred, according to the report.
Peace Now stressed that the government has not formally announced the cancellation of the Oslo Accords, nor has it introduced legislation to annex the West Bank or dismantle the Palestinian Authority.
However, the group argues that the measures combined amount in practice to a process of undeclared annexation.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the report was a “certificate of achievement for the Israeli government”.
“What they call ‘the erosion of Oslo’ we call correcting an injustice resulting from 30 years of neglect,” he said, according to Ynet.
“What they call ‘de facto annexation’ we call establishing Israel’s security belt.
“I am proud of the settlement revolution I have led to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state in the heart of the country. This is only the beginning.”