West Bank: Israel to introduce electronic tagging

The Israeli military has announced plans to introduce electronic tagging to Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian inhabitants of the Occupied West Bank, as reported by The New Arab and agencies on January 6th.

According to a statement from the army on January 5th, the decision allows security forces to “install a technological monitoring device on individuals subject to an administrative order restricting their movement within the [West Bank].”

People would face punishment for “violations of these restriction orders”; the administrative restrictive orders bar suspects from going to certain places or communicating with certain people.

Reportedly, the measure was adopted at the request of David Zini, the head of Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, who says the system is a response to escalating violence against Palestinians by Jewish settlers.

However, concerns have been raised that the system will be used to further restrict the movement of Palestinians, with Honenu, an Israeli legal aid group, describing the decision as an “undemocratic move that reminds [one of] the conduct of oppressive regimes.”

The military said that removing a monitoring device, an electronic bracelet, “constitutes an offence, for which criminal proceedings may be initiated.”

Currently, an estimated 700,000 Israelis reside in Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem, with the number likely to increase amid the Israeli government’s approval of the construction of 11 new settlements.

Israel has repeatedly sought to increase the Jewish population in the occupied Palestinian territories as part of a broader plan to maintain a Jewish demographic majority in the region.

Furthermore, it was reported on January 5th that the Israeli military plans to arm Jewish residents of the West Bank with machine guns and anti-tank missiles, along with providing military training.

This decision appears to legitimise anti-Palestinian violence by Israeli authorities, and is seemingly part of an increasingly blatant disregard for Palestinian life displayed by Israeli officials, such as members of the Jewish Power Party, who argue that Palestinians burning waste are terrorists.

In an interview with Fox News on December 30th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to downplay concerns about Israeli settler violence by describing the perpetrators as a “handful of kids” who come from “broken homes.”

Under Netanyahu’s government, settlement expansion has been a top priority, with more than 100 new settlements having been constructed in the West Bank as of February 2025.

The New Arab and agencies, Maghrebi.org