Israel approves West Bank land registration

The Israeli cabinet has approved additional measures that will tighten Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, in a move Palestinians call “de facto annexation”.

The West Bank is among the regions where Palestinians seek an independent state in the future.

Much of it is under Israeli military control, and Palestinian self-government is limited in some areas administered by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, views the creation of any Palestinian state as a security threat.

The ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, which was captured in the 1967 Middle East war and to which Israel has biblical and historical ties.

Ministers voted to start the land registration process for the first time since 1967.

“We are continuing the settlement revolution and strengthening our dominance in every part of our territory,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of the Netanyahu government.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said land registration is a vital security measure designed to ensure control, enforcement and full freedom of movement in the region to protect Israel’s citizens and national interests.

In a statement, the cabinet said the registration was “an appropriate response to the illegal land registration processes promoted by the Palestinian Authority” and would end the disputes.

The Palestinian Authority presidency rejected the cabinet’s decision, saying it constituted “the de facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and a declaration that annexation plans have been launched aimed at consolidating the occupation through illegal settlement activities.”

US President Donald Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank, but his administration has not sought to block Israel’s accelerated settlement construction; Palestinians say Israel is preventing them from becoming a potential state by devouring their land.

Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and its settlements is illegal and must end as soon as possible, the United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion due in 2024.

Israel disputes this view and says it has historical and biblical ties to the land.

The land registration adds to a series of measures taken earlier this month to expand control.