Palestinian Authority squeezed as Israel consolidates West Bank control
Palestinian Authority under strain as West Bank control shifts
On the hills north-east of Ramallah, villagers report growing intrusions by settlers and frequent army operations, a visible signal that territorial control on the ground is changing. Local leaders say access to farmland and basic movement is increasingly limited, while municipal services have thinned as the central authority struggles to meet obligations.
A major financial squeeze underpins the decline: Israel has curtailed routine tax transfers and tens of thousands of Palestinian labor permits were suspended after the October attacks, reducing household incomes and remittance flows. The PA now faces a cash shortfall that donors and foreign partners find hard to plug quickly, leaving public payrolls partially unpaid and schools operating irregularly.
Education disruption is acute; more than 600,000 pupils attend schools that are opening on shortened timetables, and some communities have resorted to informal local tutoring to make up for chronic gaps. Health and policing face parallel stress: essential workers are receiving reduced pay and operational capacity is stretched thin.
Concurrently, a recent Israeli cabinet package has reconfigured land and planning rules across occupied West Bank areas, removing several longstanding administrative constraints on property transactions and expanding Israeli planning and enforcement powers. Reported changes include lifting a ban on direct sales to Israeli settlers, broadening land-registry access, eliminating permit requirements that added oversight to purchases, centralising some building-approval and heritage-adjacent planning responsibilities (notably in sensitive zones such as Hebron) under Israeli bodies, and reviving institutional mechanisms that enable proactive state land acquisitions. The measures also extend environmental and archaeological enforcement powers beyond previous lines. Israeli officials described the steps as routine legal and administrative reform; Palestinian leaders and regional ministers called them a coordinated effort to legalise and accelerate territorial gains.
Civil-society groups monitoring settlement activity warned that by removing legal and practical barriers the package will ease transfers of land and speed dispossession, even if initial effects are incremental. The changes were announced shortly before a high‑profile meeting between Israel and the United States, underscoring diplomatic stakes and raising questions about external pressure or acquiescence.
Hardline political actors within Israel are explicit about their intent to reshape governance arrangements in the West Bank, and have signalled further measures if they retain power after upcoming elections. Those statements have amplified local fears that the PA’s remit will be narrowed further or dismantled over time.
International responses have been mixed: a broad group of states and regional bodies have condemned unilateral measures, while key partners have limited their rhetoric to expressions of concern. That gap in diplomatic pressure reduces immediate costs for actors implementing the changes on the ground.
The Gaza war and the PA’s recent posture toward Hamas have also reshuffled political influence: Jerusalem has sidelined the PA from certain post-conflict governance arrangements while still expecting it to manage security and public services in parts of the West Bank. This asymmetric burden deepens fiscal and legitimacy problems for Ramallah.
At the street level, repeated episodes of settler expansion, movement restrictions and clashes with security forces are raising tensions and increasing the chances of wider unrest. Community coping mechanisms are fraying, and some families report reverting to private paid tuition and local mutual aid to cover losses.
Taken together, the fiscal squeeze, administrative encroachment and shrinking political space for the PA form a compound risk that could degrade governance capacity significantly within months. Donors, regional actors and international institutions will face hard choices about conditional support, contingency planning and whether to accept new on-the-ground realities. Observers should watch three proximate indicators: the pace of settlement-linked infrastructure rollout, the pipeline of withheld tax receipts, and donor responses to urgent PA liquidity gaps.
Read Our Expert Analysis
Create an account or login for free to unlock our expert analysis and key takeaways for this development.
By continuing, you agree to receive marketing communications and our weekly newsletter. You can opt-out at any time.
Recommended for you
Israel advances West Bank land measures that Palestinians and neighbours call effective annexation
Israel’s security cabinet approved a package of legal and administrative changes that shift property control, planning and enforcement in parts of the West Bank to Israeli authorities, prompting Palestinian leaders and several regional states to denounce the moves as tantamount to annexation. Critics warn the steps—ranging from scrapping barriers to direct land sales to reviving state purchase committees—will accelerate settlement expansion, weaken Palestinian governance and increase tensions across the region.
Israel Draws Regional Rebuke as Rafah Reopens with Strict Limits
Eight Muslim-majority states publicly censured Israel over recent strikes in Gaza as a narrowly constrained, EU‑monitored test reopening of the Rafah crossing begins; simultaneously, Israel is pressing aid groups for staff lists and has issued a 60‑day compliance deadline, raising acute humanitarian and diplomatic risks.

U.S. training initiatives for a postwar Gaza police force collapse amid political and operational obstacles
U.S. plans to create and train Palestinian security units to fill a postconflict void in Gaza have failed to produce a deployable force, hampered by logistical limits, partner objections and political friction. The absence of a vetted, functioning police presence risks leaving territory contested by armed groups and complicates reconstruction and stability efforts.
Israel to bar MSF from Gaza after charity refuses to hand over staff lists
Israel has moved to terminate Médecins Sans Frontières’ operations in Gaza after the charity declined to provide staff rosters, citing safety concerns. The government ordered 37 organisations to submit personnel information and set a 60-day window to end operations for those that do not comply, a step likely to disrupt health services across Gaza.
Netanyahu Adviser Urges Credit-Rating Firms to Raise Israel’s Rating
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly pressed major credit-rating agencies to re-evaluate and upgrade Israel’s sovereign credit standing. The appeal frames an upgrade as recognition of economic resilience and a tool to reduce borrowing costs amid ongoing fiscal and security pressures.
Israel’s skilled talent exits accelerate after October 2023 shock
A growing number of Israeli professionals are leaving the country after the October 2023 assault, citing political polarization, corruption and rising religiosity as compounding factors. This migration trend risks eroding technology-sector capacity and long-term innovation potential unless policy responses stabilize security and social confidence.

UN chief warns of immediate fiscal failure as member payments fall behind
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has alerted diplomats that the organisation faces a severe cash shortfall that could exhaust available funds by July unless member states meet their assessed payments. The situation is driven by large contributors withholding dues and a rule that forces the UN to return unspent money, creating a damaging cashflow mismatch.

Israel quietly pushes Washington toward toppling Iran's leadership
Senior Israeli officials are privately urging the United States to consider actions that could unseat Iran’s ruling apparatus, seeing President Trump as the partner most likely to act. Their push comes as U.S. forces and exercises in the region increase deterrent signaling, Gulf partners limit basing options, and analysts warn that any campaign risks widening regional retaliation and economic disruption.