Today, a quiet transformation is advancing in the West Bank. It isn’t the same spectacular form of violence that once commanded the global news cycle in Gaza, but it is more methodical and durable — and more difficult to interrupt. It unfolds in three seemingly unrelated processes: financial warfare against Palestinian economic life, state-backed settler terror, and the legalization of…
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This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on Feb. 11, 2026. It is shared here with permission.
Israel just erased Palestinian existence from the West Bank by law, and it’s not an overstatement.
It has so far been commonplace to say that Israel’s annexation of the West Bank exists in all but name, since a state of de facto annexation was being established on the ground even though the West Bank was still regarded as legally separate. That changed on Sunday.
While Israel did not announce a de jure annexation of the West Bank, it has laid the legal groundwork for it. The Israeli government’s security cabinet made a series of decisions on Sunday that changed the legal status quo in the West Bank, dramatically shrinking the already limited authority of the self-governing body known as the Palestinian Authority (PA). This signals the practical beginning of a formal annexation of the West Bank — starting with specific areas.
The Israeli security cabinet made a series of decisions on Sunday that changed the legal status quo in the West Bank. This signals the practical beginning of an annexation of the West Bank.
The bill conferring these authorities to Israel was approved by the cabinet in its final draft, and is to be voted on by the Israeli Knesset. When it passes, Israel will have the authority to impose Israeli law in areas of the West Bank that had been under PA control, especially laws regulating building permits. The bill, originally introduced in 2023 and known as “the Antiquities Bill,” concerns dozens of Palestinian historical sites in the West Bank. In addition, the Israeli cabinet decided on Sunday to allow Israelis to purchase real estate
The jeep that takes us to Umm al-Khair rocks from side to side, as if we were on a boat in open water. At the wheel is Ali Awad, a Palestinian journalist from the nearby village of Tuba. Almost every formal route connecting Tuba to Umm al-Khair has been destroyed by the Zionist state; what remains is a single dirt road, crudely carved through the hills of the southern West Bank’s semi-desert of…
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When Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race of New York City, many believed his election would transform not just municipal policy but how the city confronts injustice, at home and abroad. Many were inspired when, as an assemblyman in May 2023 at the CUNY School of Law, Mamdani introduced the “Not On Our Dime!: Ending New York Funding of Israeli Settler Violence Act” (NOOD Act), a bill that would…
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The Trump administration chartered a private jet owned by an Israeli American businessman to deport eight Palestinians to the occupied West Bank this week, new reporting says. The Palestinians were taken in a Gulfstream IV owned by a real estate partner of President Donald Trump, Haaretz reports, and handed over to Israeli Prison Service officials by U.S. law enforcement.
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The year 2025 saw the unprecedented displacement of Palestinian rural communities by Israeli settlers, who enjoy the Israeli army’s backing. At least 13 rural Palestinian communities in the West Bank were completely wiped off the map. This impacted at least 190 families and 1,090 individuals. The wave of settler attacks has continued into 2026, with the displacement of the Ras Ain al-Auja…
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