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Smotrich's "De Facto Sovereignty" Machine

Most countries that take land announce it. Israel's government has found a way to take the West Bank without a single formal announcement, by rebuilding the machinery that governs it. The architect is Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, who is both finance minister and a minister inside the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian affairs in the West Bank. He calls his plan "de facto sovereignty." "De facto" means "in fact," as opposed to "de jure," "in law." This page explains how the machine works, step by step, in his words and in the government's own records.

Step one: move the land from the army to a minister​

Since 1967 the West Bank has been run, on paper, by the army, as occupied territory. The first thing this government did was change who holds the pen. Peace Now's report records that in June 2023 the requirement for the defense minister's approval at every planning stage was removed and the authority given to Smotrich (Peace Now, Annus Mirabilis, PDF). J Street's report describes the result as a parallel civilian bureaucracy inside the Defense Ministry that reports to Smotrich and bypasses the military chain of command (J Street report, June 2026). As far back as June 2023, Hanan Ashrawi called it "Annexation on steroids" when the government advanced 4,560 units and gave Smotrich "the power to decide" (Hanan Ashrawi on X, 19 June 2023). The U.S. State Department said the same week that it was "deeply troubled" by plans for more than 4,000 units "& the changes to its planning system that may expedite approvals" (State Department spokesperson on X, 19 June 2023).

Smotrich explained why the civilian route matters: "We created a separate civilian system...so that they won't say that we are doing annexation here." And what it means: "We are for the first time taking responsibility for the territory as permanent sovereign" (Times of Israel, 19 February 2026). The U.S. State Department saw it too; spokesman Matthew Miller described "the finance minister, who also is a minister inside the Defense Ministry's attempt to further administratively integrate settlements into Israel" (as quoted from the Times of Israel liveblog, June 2024).

Step two: legalize, then build​

"We will establish sovereignty … first on the ground and then through legislation. I intend to legalise the young settlements," Smotrich told his party in 2024, as reported by Haaretz; "My life's mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state." A 2024 post of his on X, as headlined by Reddit, said Israel had expanded settlement construction "to remove the threat" of Palestinian statehood (r/warcrimes, 5 August 2024).

The "young settlements" are outposts. In 2023 the Knesset lifted the ban on Israelis entering four settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated in 2005; Peace Now says the "immediate purpose" was to legalize Homesh (Peace Now PDF). On 21 December 2025 Smotrich posted: "To declare and regulate 19 new settlements! We continue to make history" (cwrc.ps chronicle). Earlier that month he thanked Netanyahu: "I thank the Prime Minister for his support of the revolution we are carrying out in Judea and Samaria… Together we will kill the idea of a Palestinian state."

Step three: the land registry​

The quietest step is the most permanent. On 11 May 2025 the cabinet opened land settlement proceedings, and the defense minister said publicly the purpose was to "strengthen, consolidate, and expand Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria" (Peace Now PDF). The Times of Israel reported that this decision, "which Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz explicitly stated was designed to expand and further entrench the presence of the settlements," was "part of 'de facto sovereignty' steps the government was taking."

In February 2026 the security cabinet eased Israeli purchases of private land in the West Bank and expanded Israeli enforcement into Areas A and B, "where until now Israel has not had civilian administrative control." A week later the full cabinet approved a new land-registration process for Area C, "the 60 percent of the territory that Israel has full control over." "Both the government and critics said the measure would enable the state to declare large swaths of land" for settlements (Times of Israel, 19 February 2026). J Street adds that the security cabinet revoked a Jordanian-era law that barred non-residents from buying West Bank land. Land registration had been suspended since 1968 (El País, 17 February 2026). A compilation of the same period says the security cabinet also approved 19 new settlements and opened land registries for settler organizations to claim properties (Chitter tag page).

Step four: erase the lines​

The Oslo map divided the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. The machine's final step is to erase that map. According to Ynet, as posted by an account that summarized its report, Smotrich is seeking to "blur borders" between Areas A, B, and C "to lay the groundwork for further land grabs" (David Z on X, 9 April 2026). In May 2026, as rendered in a summary of his statements, he said: "The time has come for us to finally erase the lines that distinguish between Areas A, B, and C, the entire Land of Israel is ours" (Grok summary on X, 21 September 2026). In June 2026, according to X search snippets, he announced the cancellation of the 1997 Hebron Agreement and moved planning and construction powers from the Palestinian Hebron Municipality to Israeli authorities.

The goal, stated​

Six days after the 2024 American election, Smotrich called 2025 "the year of [Israeli] sovereignty in Judea and Samaria" (Israel Horizons, December 2024). El País reported his proposal to annex 85 percent of the West Bank under the rule "maximum territory, minimum Arabs." To Army Radio in December 2023 he said of Gaza: "We will not allow a situation in which two million people live there" (DAWN, 27 September 2024).

Amit Segal, a sympathetic Israeli analyst, sums it up as "his three-year plan to annex Judea and Samaria de facto, if not de jure" (Amit Segal on X, 16 February 2026). J Street calls it a "de facto sovereignty revolution" "designed to normalize the reality of annexation well before it is formally declared."

Why no formal annexation, yet​

El País explains the one brake: "In 2026, the annexation remains de facto, not de jure," because President Trump, after meeting Arab and Muslim allies in October 2025, "adopted a very different tone." Responsible Statecraft puts it more bluntly: "President Trump insists that he won't let Israel annex the West Bank. But under his administration, the Israeli far-right has accelerated its efforts." The machine was designed to work without the word. As Smotrich said: "so that they won't say that we are doing annexation here."

Smotrich's wider ambitions, beyond the West Bank, are on Smotrich and Other Ministers in Their Own Words and Smotrich in 2026: The Litani, the Hermon, and "Take Territory".

Evidence rating: the government is annexing the West Bank in practice through a civilian administration under Smotrich: CONFIRMED in his own words.

Status: Bezalel Smotrich is alive. Israel Katz, Matthew Miller, Hanan Ashrawi, and Amit Segal are alive. Nothing on this page states that any of them committed a crime.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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