Israeli Finance Minister and Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich is making rapid strides in his bid to annex the occupied West Bank, most recently demanding the closure of the Israeli “Civil Administration” responsible for settlement affairs in the West Bank. Settlements in the West Bank are under Israeli civil administration and are not directly subordinate to government ministries. Under Smotrich’s threatened annexation of the West Bank, the settlements would become part of the “state” and would be subject to its ministries.

Speaking to senior officials in the Civil Administration, the minister expressed his hope that it would be closed and the West Bank annexed, adding that he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the matter. Smotrich added, according to what Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday: "I hope that we have a great opportunity with the new administration in the United States to achieve full normalization and bring government offices here." He added: "There will be an organized process, and we are now working to put the plan on the table."

Smotrich noted that he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue, saying: “This is a serious statement. I sat with the prime minister and we are taking this matter very, very seriously. I also spoke with the ambassador-designate in Washington, Yehiel Leiter. We are trying to create a real process here. There is a lot of work here... and this is a vision that we can achieve.”

The settler leaders in the occupied West Bank have said several times that the “Civil Administration” is not the entity that should provide services to the half a million settlers living in the West Bank. The Israeli far right has tried several times to work on closing it down, but each time there was no real possibility of doing so for various and complex reasons.

Legal and international repercussions of the West Bank annexation plan

The newspaper pointed out that closing the "Civil Administration" has wide-ranging legal and international implications. Before implementing this step by the occupying state, officials will have to answer key questions, including whether the move is legal under international law, and what Israel's position will be toward the area (the West Bank) after the administration is closed.

The Hebrew newspaper pointed out that after a year and a half of measures within the "Civil Administration", which included radical changes in the powers and dealings of the occupation government in the West Bank, it is difficult to say that Smotrich is speaking without foundation, adding, "He and his team are already working on an organized plan to implement the step gradually, especially to exploit the momentum of the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump."

On Thursday, Smotrich announced a decision to confiscate 24,000 dunams of land in the occupied West Bank and annex it as "state land", with the aim of expanding a number of settlements there. Channel 14 reported that the Israeli authorities, led by Smotrich, announced the annexation and confiscation of 24,000 dunams in the West Bank as state land, in a move described as one of the largest in decades.

The channel confirmed that "this decision includes nearly half of the lands that were declared state lands since the Oslo Accords in 1993, as the declared area since then did not exceed 50,000 dunams until last year." No official statement or declaration has yet been issued by the Israeli government, or the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, regarding this.

The private channel indicated that "the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim (east of Jerusalem) will be expanded by about 2,600 dunams to the south, to create a settlement continuity with the settlement of Kedar." According to the channel, the settlements of Migdal Oz and Susya, in the southern West Bank, and Yafet in the Jordan Valley (east) will be expanded. It quoted Smotrich as saying that the decision is "a historic achievement that contributes to strengthening settlements and expanding the lands allocated for infrastructure and settlement projects."