Now Reading: Israel defence minister seeks police control over West Bank settlers
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Israel defence minister seeks police control over West Bank settlers
Israel defence minister seeks police control over West Bank settlers
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered the military to draft a plan transferring all law-enforcement powers over Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank from the army to the police.…
The Story in Brief
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered the military to draft a plan transferring all law-enforcement powers over Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank from the army to the police. The change, if enacted, would move responsibility for civilian matters “among Israeli communities” in the territory to police, while the military continues to control Palestinian residents, The Hindu reports.
The announcement comes as Jewish settlers have besieged three Palestinian homes in Qusra near Nablus since last Sunday, blocking food supplies. The military has tried but failed to remove them repeatedly. Katz argued the army should focus on fighting Palestinian terrorism, not policing settlers.
The Indian Opinion
Two lazy narratives compete here: one says a police takeover is a technical fix; the other calls it a prelude to immediate annexation. The first ignores that Katz explicitly wants the military freed from policing Jewish settlers, a political gift to Netanyahu's far-right allies. The second forgets that police forces still answer to the same government. Watch for one concrete test: will the police actually dismantle settler outposts or simply look away? That answer will tell us whether this is a change in uniform or a change in policy.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
