Israel’s move for stricter West Bank control will wipe out Palestinian Authority, officials say

The Muqata’a in Ramallah, HQ of the Palestinian Authority

Jack Khoury writes in Haaretz on 10 February 2026:

Palestinian Authority officials who spoke to Haaretz on Monday described Israel’s security cabinet approval the day before – to expand and intensify far-reaching control deep inside areas of the West Bank nominally under Palestinian rule – as “the final nail in the coffin of the authority and the Oslo Accords.”

Following the decision, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an urgent visit to Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah II and called for immediate U.S. intervention.

According to a statement by Abbas’ office, he emphasized the need for Palestinian-Jordanian action to prevent escalation in the region. Abbas also called on Arab states, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the UN Security Council, and the European Union to halt Israel’s enforcement and annexation measures.

A senior Palestine Liberation Organization official told Haaretz that if the cabinet-approved measures, which include, among other things, further civil enforcement, easing the sale of land to Jews in the West Bank and transferring authority over the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb in Hebron, are implemented, it “will be the end of the status of Areas A and B [which are under PA civilian control].”

As the powers detailed in the security cabinet’s decision relate to the protection of antiquities, the prevention of water-related offenses and environmental hazards, they could carry significant consequences. These include, for example, the closure of waste treatment facilities without viable alternatives, the sealing of wells and the takeover of archaeological sites.

“Lands that were under PA control or private [Palestinian] ownership will become Israel’s personal or government property,” the official added. “This seems to amount to a de facto annexation which is legally regulated.”

A senior PA official, who participated in rounds of negotiations between the authority and Israel after the Oslo Accords, said that the cabinet’s decision revokes the PA’s authority in the region, claiming that “the Oslo Accords, which were supposed to lead to a Palestinian state after more than three decades of negotiations, have been buried under this de facto annexation.”

“This is what Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made clear when he said, ‘We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state'” shortly after Sunday’s decision. According to the official, the meaning of these measures is “to end the Oslo fantasy and transform the West Bank into an area where Israel replaces Palestinian institutions.”

Palestinian Authority officials link the move to the Israeli elections, scheduled for October, and are aware that most Israeli parties share a consensus against recognizing a Palestinian state. From the Palestinians’ perspective, the latest move is part of the election campaign of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Smotrich.

“The question is how much the world, especially the United States, will allow this to happen, or if it’ll all remain just a declaration,” says a source in the Palestinian security services, who adds, however, that even if, for now, these are only declarations – they will turn into a reality if there’s no real U.S. response.

According to the source, abandoning the two-state solution leaves no alternative other than apartheid, arguing that Israeli settlers are protected by the government and the IDF, align themselves with the ruling ideology and have increasingly escalated daily attacks. These include shootings, arson, desecration of religious sites and disruptions to water supplies.

The source said these are not isolated incidents, but part of a broader government strategy aimed at implementing this new reality.

Criticism is also growing within the Palestinian Authority regarding the conduct of Abbas’ inner circle, which has lost all influence over the Israeli government and the Trump administration, despite the positive and fawning messages to the U.S. president emanating from Ramallah.

“The PA publicly adopted the Trump plan and Security Council Resolution 2803 [on the reconstruction of Gaza and the arrival of an international stabilization force], likely based on commitments for future cooperation,” a PA source said.

These commitments, however, have not been fulfilled, the source added. The Trump administration barred Abbas from addressing the United Nations; European countries opened their airspace to Netanyahu, who is wanted by the World Court in The Hague; and the European Union, which conditioned Gaza’s reconstruction on Hamas’s disarmament, joined measures amounting to collective punishment against Palestinians, including restrictions on the entry of humanitarian equipment, while failing to curb settler violence in the West Bank.

The implication, the source notes, is that the Israeli government is facing no meaningful international pressure that counters its moves.

Speaking to Haaretz, a senior official in the Palestinian security services said that even threats by the Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination or suspend security activity in the West Bank no longer serve as a bargaining chip with Israel.

According to the official, Israel acts as it pleases throughout the region, and the continuation or suspension of security coordination with the IDF therefore has no impact on Israel’s harsh decision-making.

Alongside the frustration within the PA, eight Arab and Islamic countries – Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan – issued a joint statement condemning the Israeli decisions and defining them as illegal.

The countries called for immediate international action to halt the escalation and the new measures, aiming to preserve international law and “the possibility of a just peace.”

Palestinian officials expressed satisfaction with the statement but demanded that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other countries address the issue directly with Trump on the eve of his planned meeting with Netanyahu, scheduled for Wednesday.

The prevailing sentiment within the PA is clear: without immediate intervention from the international community, and especially the Trump administration, the Palestinian aspiration for a state is at high risk.

The cabinet’s latest decisions are not a policy change that can be reversed. These are moves that mark the official end of the Oslo Accords and transfer the West Bank to direct Israeli control. All this comes as Gaza faces unimaginable destruction, and its reconstruction process is stalled without a defined timeline.

This article is reproduced in its entirety