Israel took a major step towards annexing the occupied West Bank on Sunday when the country’s security cabinet announced a series of measures that dramatically empower Israeli settlers, experts say.
Two ministers in Israel’s far-right government described the measures as being “intended to remove decades-old barriers, repeal discriminatory Jordanian legislation and enable accelerated development of settlement on the ground”.
The expansive changes in Israel’s legal stance towards the Palestinian territory mark a key step towards the annexation of the entire West Bank, a priority for many ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
The plans have been condemned by Muslim countries and many in the West, who view a two-state solution as the only way to resolve the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But with the rapid pace of settlements established under the current government, and the almost complete freedom of operation enjoyed by the Israeli military, some Palestinians consider Israel to have already carried out de facto annexation.
The changes announced on Sunday have three core elements, said Lior Amihai, executive director of Israeli NGO Peace Now. The first is to make it possible for settlers to “almost without limitation” purchase property in Area C, the part of the West Bank where Israel, under the Oslo Accords, has security and civil control. Purchases will now also be possible in Areas A and B, where the Palestinian Authority is supposed to have partial or full control.
The second element is to declassify land ownership registries, a move Mr Amihai said would open the door for settlers to defraud, forge documents and blackmail Palestinian owners in pursuit of acquiring property to control larger parts of the West Bank.
The third key element is stripping Palestinian bodies of control at key religious sites in Hebron and Bethlehem. Israel’s Civil Administration will take planning and building authority away the Palestinian municipality in Hebron at the Ibrahimi Mosque. The city is home to one of Israel’s most radical settler communities. In Bethlehem, Israel will establish an administration to manage Rachel’s Tomb, paving the way for government-backed development and funding of the site.
“It could be that the government is trying to fast-track whatever they can before the elections but, nonetheless, these measures are a continuation of the government’s policy from the beginning of its time in office,” Mr Amihai told The National.
The construction of settlements, including some built without Israeli authorisation, has increased under Israel's far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other. Hundreds of Palestinians have been driven off their land by Israeli settlers in recent weeks in the worst such violence since 2023, the UN said this month.
Israel's plans led to strong pleas for an international response from senior Palestinian officials.
“We demand that the Arab League Council, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation and the [UN] Security Council hold emergency sessions to discuss the dangerous decisions of the Israeli government and adopt an Arab-Islamic-international stance that condemns these measures and demands that the Israeli government retract them immediately," Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh, one of the most influential figures in the Palestinian Authority, wrote on X.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin also responded on social media. “The Israeli cabinet’s latest decisions targeting the occupied West Bank constitute a dangerous escalation, a serious violation of international law and a de facto annexation through illegal settlement expansion," she said on X. "These actions are a war crime and require international accountability."
