The Civil Administration is a military unit responsible for implementing Israel’s policy on civilian matters in the West Bank. It is the military government’s central arm in matters relating to civilian life in the occupied territory. Although the laws of occupation require the Military Commander to act for the benefit of the protected population, the Civil Administration has never been neutral. For decades, it has functioned as a tool for repressing Palestinians and controlling their lives, land and natural resources. Nevertheless, it has operated within the legal framework of occupation: as part of the military government and, at least formally, under the authority of the Military Commander. And so, even when advancing Israeli interests, the Civil Administration exercised its powers within a framework that recognized the West Bank as occupied territory, not part of Israel, and treated Israeli control over it as temporary.

In May 2024, under Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the Civil Administration’s work underwent a fundamental transformation. The Military Commander in the West Bank signed an amendment to the Order Concerning the Establishment of the Civil Administration, authorizing the Head of the Civil Administration to appoint a civilian as deputy and delegate broad governing powers to him. According to the military letter of appointment, the Deputy Head of the Civil Administration for Civilian Affairs, or Civilian Deputy, was delegated powers under 78 military orders, laws and regulations used by the Military Commander to govern the West Bank under the occupation regime. The position of deputy itself was created as part of a political agreement to transfer powers over the administration of the West Bank to the Additional Minister in the Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich, and to the Settlement Administration that answers to him.

The purpose of this appointment was to bring the West Bank’s governing apparatus in line with Smotrich’s policies and turn it into a tool for advancing the settlement enterprise, displacing Palestinians and, ultimately, dismantling the Civil Administration as a military body. Minister Orit Strock described the political significance of the move, saying that the deputy’s role was to serve as “an executive arm for Bezalel Smotrich;” that the Civil Administration was required to “obey him;” and that having staff officers answer to the deputy would be “the first step in making the Civil Administration civilian.” Strock listed some of the deputy’s chief missions: enforcement action against what she called “the Arab takeover of Area C,” advancing construction plans, and regularizing settlements.

The person appointed for the role was Hille Roth, a graduate of the far-right Od Yosef Hai yeshiva, a resident of the settlement of Revava and former resident of the settlement of Yitzhar. Roth previously served as Finance and Administration Director at Honenu, an organization that provides legal assistance to Israelis suspected, charged or convicted of ideologically motivated crimes against Palestinians, as treasurer of the Samaria Regional Council and as director of its Settlements Department. Roth is not an officer who rose through the military government apparatus, but a civilian who has spent a lifetime serving the settlement enterprise. He was entrusted with powers that form the core of governmental authority over the occupied territory. Some of these powers directly affect millions of Palestinians, who have no representation in the system that appointed Roth and no ability to influence the policy he is responsible for implementing.

Smotrich clearly articulated the scope of the powers handed to Roth: “There is a Deputy Head of the Civil Administration who is a civilian, an employee of the Ministry of Defense, subordinate not to the Head of the Civil Administration, not to the GOC Central Command, but to the Settlement Administration. All the authorities of the Head of the Civil Administration were delegated to him. … [H]e signs the orders; he convenes the Supreme Planning Council; he declares state land […] he manages the staff officers; he issues tenders for personnel; he signs expropriations for roads; everything is in his hands. All civil powers.”

Under the Work Protocol between the Settlement Administration and the Civil Administration, many powers held by the Head of the Civil Administration were transferred to the Civilian Deputy, who is not professionally accountable to him. The protocol originally precluded the Head of the Civil Administration from revoking the delegation of powers, changing the deputy’s decisions, or intervening in them other than in exceptional cases raising security concerns and listed in the protocol. This created the false appearance that the powers remained within the Civil Administration, when in fact, many of its powers were transferred to the Civilian Deputy and many of its employees and soldiers, have been put under the Settlement Administration, which is subordinate to the Additional Minister in the Ministry of Defense. As the Civil Administration is the military body through which the Military Commander exercises powers over civilian matters in the occupied territory, in keeping with the law of occupation, the transfer of powers to the Civilian Deputy pushes the Military Commander out of the role of administrator and places decision-making largely in the hands of elected officials, political appointees, and the civilian mechanism subordinate to them.

Placing the Civilian Deputy within the Civil Administration obscures what this change means and preserves the appearance of a military framework. In practice, the deputy is a civilian who answers to the Head of the Settlement Division, both professionally and politically, while Civil Administration employees and staff officers, who exercise powers over land, planning and enforcement, serve as the Settlement Administration’s executive arm. This has reduced the military framework to a shell that conceals the transfer of substantive control from the Military Commander to an Israeli minister and a civilian mechanism subordinate to him.

Following a petition filed by Yesh Din and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the state amended parts of the work protocol in 2025, restoring some authority to intervene in how these powers are exercised to the Head of the Civil Administration and the Military Commander. The essence of the shift, however, remains: a civilian deputy holds broad governing powers and receives policy guidance from, and answers to, the Settlement Administration.

The legal advisory function for the deputy’s powers was also removed from the military (Legal Advisor – Judea & Samaria) and handed to the Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Defense. In other words, it is not just the power to design and implement policy that was transferred to civilians representing the government, but also the legal mechanism supporting it. While the Military Commander retains formal authority, his ability to intervene has been limited to cases with critical security implications.

In July 2026, the government made this reallocation of powers permanent. This shift included an exemption from tender for the position of Head of the Settlement Administration, and Hillel Roth’s term was extended from four to six years. These measures are designed to ensure Roth and the Settlement Administration continue operating after the elections (on October 27, 2026) and to make it harder for a future government to undo the restructuring of Israel’s control over the West Bank. With that, the government has incorporated the annexation mechanism into the civil service, insulated it from changes of government and turned the transfer of the West Bank’s administration to Israeli elected officials into a permanent institutional reality.