Israeli policies and measures directed at Palestinians in the West Bank have steadily intensified since the current right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu came to power at the end of 2022. These policies became more explicit in the aftermath of the 7th October attacks the following year, and increasingly actionable with Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, a shift openly welcomed and endorsed by Netanyahu, members of his government, and their political base. While these measures are not detached from the structural policies that Israeli authorities have gradually entrenched in the West Bank over past decades, their recent evolution has brought them together into a coherent system. Taken as a whole, they outline Israel’s emerging vision for the future of the West Bank, a vision that is in no way separable from how it envisages the future of Gaza.

A series of major aggressive and threatening measures that have marked Israel’s policies toward Palestinians and their land in the West Bank over the past two years point to a deliberate strategy, one that lays bare the occupation’s objectives for the territory. The sharp and unprecedented rise in the number of Palestinians killed, wounded, detained, and imprisoned during this period, alongside the demolition of homes and refugee camps and the forced displacement of tens of thousands from their communities, signals a new Israeli policy. It reflects a profound disregard for Palestinian lives and for their future, a reality that cannot be separated from the crimes committed against hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip, and from the vast destruction inflicted on its neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure during the latest war. This trajectory also coincides with a surge in settler violence, one that has reached its peak in recent months. Israeli authorities openly acknowledge their inability, or unwillingness, to rein in these attacks, an admission that points to far more dangerous roles settlers may be expected to play in the period ahead.

The recent deployment of checkpoints and iron gates, which sever the territorial continuity of towns and villages across the West Bank and paralyse daily life for Palestinians, cannot be separated from a broader policy aimed squarely at undermining the standing of the Palestinian Authority itself, and complicatind the life of people. The West Bank economy now stands on the brink. These barriers, and the chronic congestion they produce, have imposed severe economic disruption on the population. This has unfolded alongside the cancellation of most work permits for Palestinians employed inside the Green Line, a workforce exceeding one hundred thousand. The result has been the loss of nearly one fifth of the West Bank’s income. At the same time, Israel has deliberately targeted the Palestinian Authority through economic pressure. It continues to withhold clearance revenues, which account for more than two thirds of the Authority’s budget. The latest phase of this policy began gradually in 2019, then escalated sharply after 7th October, justified by shifting and unconvincing pretexts. Accordingly, debts have mounted, and public employees and retirees, whose numbers exceed one hundred thousand, have for years been denied their full salaries. The........

© Middle East Monitor