A Palestinian official in the occupied West Bank has labelled Israel’s latest expansion of control there as a brutal blow to peace efforts.
By Nathan Morley
Israel’s security cabinet last week approved major changes to the long‑standing division of authority in the West Bank, altering arrangements set under the U.S.-brokered Oslo Accords signed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders three decades ago.
The measures expand Israeli control beyond its military occupation into areas previously administered by Palestinian authorities, including municipal services in Palestinian‑run zones.
They also grant broad powers to take over what Israel calls “heritage sites” across the territory, citing the need to protect water, environmental and archaeological resources.
One example is Rachel’s Tomb, currently overseen by the Bethlehem municipality, which will be transferred to a newly created Israeli authority.
A senior Palestinian official in the occupied West Bank said the changes mark the end of any meaningful negotiations between the two sides.
Speaking to British radio, Asma al‑Sharabati, acting mayor of Hebron, said the new legal framework would exclude Palestinian officials from decisions on planning and development, even in areas nominally under Palestinian control.
Hebron remains one of the West Bank’s most volatile cities, with Israeli soldiers guarding several hundred Israeli settlers living in fortified enclaves alongside Palestinian residents.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing both areas from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians seek those territories, along with the Gaza Strip, for a future independent state. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an election later this year, has long argued that the creation of a Palestinian state would endanger Israel’s security.
