THE Israeli government has approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory began in 1967.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Sunday said the proposal was submitted by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Israel Katz.
“We are continuing the settlement revolution to control all our lands,” Smotrich said.
Most Palestinian land is not formally registered because it is a long, complicated process that Israel stopped in 1967. Registration of land establishes permanent ownership. International law states an occupying power cannot confiscate or settle land in occupied territories.
The Palestinian Presidency slammed the Israeli government’s decision, calling it a “serious escalation” and saying the Israeli move in effect nullifies signed agreements and clearly contradicts resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Katz described the move as an “essential security and governance measure designed to ensure control, enforcement and full freedom of action for the State of Israel in the area”, The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported.
Last week, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved measures promoted by Smotrich and Katz that further facilitate the unlawful seizure of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian group Hamas condemned the decision, calling it an attempt “to steal and Judaise lands in the occupied West Bank by registering them as so-called ‘state lands’”.
In a statement, the group which led the October 2023 attacks on Israel and fought Israel in its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip called the approval “a null and void decision issued by an illegitimate occupying power”.
“It is an attempt to forcibly impose settlement and Judaisation on the ground, in flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions,” it added.
Analysts described the move as a de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory, warning that it will profoundly reshape its civil and legal landscape by eliminating what the Israeli ministers called longstanding “legal obstacles” to the expansion of illegal settlements there.
Speaking from Ramallah in the West Bank, political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera that Israel is “packing annexation into some sort of a bureaucratic move”. He said the International Court of Justice in 2024 said Israeli actions amount to annexation of the West Bank.
“People should understand this is not just a step towards annexation. We are experiencing annexation as we speak today. What the Israeli government is doing is implanting their political programme – a policy that has already been presented,” he said.