World
Is Israel’s Smotrich fulfilling his dream of annexing the West Bank?
About a month ago, a quiet transfer happened.
The Israeli army’s Civil Administration handed more control over the occupied West Bank to the Settlements Administration, led by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in an illegal settlement himself.
Now Smotrich and his Settlements Administration control more things, like building regulations and the management of farmland, parks and forests.
Since he entered government, Smotrich has pushed openly for more Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – illegal under international law – as steps towards annexation.
So what does this all mean?
What’s the Settlements Administration?
It was set up back in February 2023, after lots of political wrangling between Smotrich – who is also a minister within the Ministry of Defense – and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister.
There were a lot of details, but the upshot is that the responsibility for monitoring illegal construction in the occupied West Bank came under Smotrich.
Meaning that illegal settlement or outpost construction would be ignored and eventually approved, while Palestinian construction would be subject to intense scrutiny over permits, and often demolished.
How did Smotrich swing that?
Smotrich and his fellow member of the extreme right, Itamar Ben-Gvir, head a coalition of hard right and ultra-Orthodox parties that have propped up the rule of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Using that far-right heft, Smotrich negotiated to essentially take control of Israeli expansion into occupied land.
So what changed this May 29?
The army’s handover on May 29 means pages of bylaws will now be enforced by the Settlements Administration, making illegal settlement expansion even easier.
Did Israel already control the occupied West Bank?
Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, as well as Gaza and East Jerusalem – the longest military occupation in modern history.
But, even occupation has rules.
According to international law, the occupying power cannot move its citizens into occupied land. Israel’s Supreme Court confirmed this in 2005.
That did not stop Israelis from building illegal settlements on stolen land. And it did not stop Israeli settlers – supported by security forces sometimes – from attacking Palestinians to force them off even more land.
How many Palestinians live in the West Bank?
According to the US government, three million people.
In many cases, families have lived in the same house or on the same farm for centuries.
Traditional farming is a source of pride and identity, with generations dedicating themselves to tending ancestral olive groves and fruit orchards. Some Palestinian tribes are shepherds, traditionally roaming across their lands so their flocks can graze.
But settler attacks have focused on farmers and shepherds, who tend to live in small, peaceful communities that make easy pickings for armed settlers with the police as their backup.
This pushed many Palestinians to move to towns, working unskilled jobs like construction.
What’s going to happen to them now?
Life will likely get even harder.
On top of sweeping arrest campaigns being stepped up in the occupied West Bank since Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza on October 7, the number of settler attacks to scare families off their land has exploded too.
More than 500 Palestinians have been killed in attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Restrictions on movement have increased as Israel increased both fixed and mobile checkpoints and settlers have started setting up their own random roadblocks.
This means Palestinians have a much harder time getting to work or keeping their businesses running. Or seeing family, or going for a picnic. Anything, really.
Add to that the increased leniency Smotrich’s Administration is likely to show illegal settlement expansion and the crackdown on any Palestinian construction, the outlook is bleak.
Is this it? Annexation?
Annexing the occupied West Bank to Israel is certainly a dream for Smotrich and his close political ally, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
They see taking over managing the occupation – by essentially commandeering the Civil Administration – as a major step towards that ambition.
Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed a family of six and a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip.
A strike hit the tent where Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official.
Another strike near Gaza City killed four children and their parents, according to the emergency service of Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last week, launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians. It has vowed to escalate the offensive if Hamas does not release hostages, disarm and leave the territory.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Search efforts remain underway for four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania, leaving behind a sunken military vehicle, a NATO spokesperson clarified Wednesday, despite earlier claims that they were deceased.
NATO said the search is “ongoing” and that the fate of the missing “is still unknown,” according to a statement posted on X.
“This is still early news so we do not know the details,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Warsaw. “This is really terrible news and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones.”
Asked Wednesday evening by reporters if he had been briefed about the missing soldiers, President Donald Trump said, “No, I haven’t.”
Few details surrounding the incident were immediately provided by U.S. officials.
A U.S. official would say only that the four soldiers were involved in a training accident, The Associated Press reported. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on the status of the soldiers.
The soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training near Pabradė, a town north of the capital Vilnius, when they went missing, U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany, said in a statement.
The missing M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle carrying the four soldiers was later found in a body of water in a training area during a search by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces and other Lithuanian authorities.
FOREIGN NATIONALS FLYING DRONES OVER US MILITARY SITES RAISES ‘ESPIONAGE’ CONCERN: EXPERT
Eurocopters Tiger of the German Army take part in Lithuanian-German military exercises at a training range in Pabrade, north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)
The soldiers, all from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division — a unit stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia, went missing during the scheduled tactical training, according to the statement.
Recovery efforts are underway by U.S. Army and Lithuanian Armed Forces and civilian agencies.
Search efforts for the soldiers continue, and the 3rd Infantry Division is keeping the soliders’ families informed on the status of search efforts.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our Raider Brigade Soldiers and Families during the search for our four missing Dogface Soldiers in Lithuania,” the division wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Further updates about the search for the missing soldiers would be provided as information becomes available, the U.S. military said.
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS MISSING AND MURDERED UNIT INVESTIGATING ALLEGED MILITARY BASE KILLING
The training ground in Pabradė is located less than 6 miles from the border with Belarus.
“I would like to personally thank the Lithuanian Armed Forces and first responders who quickly came to our aid in our search operations,” Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, the V Corps commanding general, said in a written statement. “It’s this kind of teamwork and support that exemplifies the importance of our partnership and our humanity regardless of what flags we wear on our shoulders.”
Lithuania, a member of NATO, has often had tense relations with Russia, a key ally of Belarus, since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. Latvia and Estonia, the other Baltic countries that broke away from the Soviet Union, have had similarly chilly ties with Russia.
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Relations soured further over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Ukraine in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Fort Stewart did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening in Paris to prepare a summit of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, a group of countries ready to provide Ukraine with long-term security guarantees.
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