Palestinians say new Israeli measures in West Bank amount to de facto annexation

3 hours agoYolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, JerusalemReutersThe measures would make it easier for Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian landPalestinians, Arab countries, and Israeli anti-occupation groups have condemned new steps approved by Israel's security cabinet for the occupied West Bank, saying they amount to de facto annexation.Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the moves that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian land. "We will continue to kill the idea of ​​a Palestinian state," he said. All settlements are seen as illegal under international law.The measures - which are expected to be signed off by Israel's top military commander for the West Bank - aim to increase Israeli control over the territory in terms of property law, planning, licensing and enforcement.They were announced three days ahead of a meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and US President Donald Trump in Washington.Last year, settlements in the West Bank expanded at their fastest rate since monitoring began, the United Nations (UN) has said.The new Israeli measures include cancelling a decades-old prohibition on the direct sale of West Bank land to Jews and declassifying local land registry records. Up to now, settlers could only buy homes from registered companies on land controlled by Israel's government.Israeli ministers presented the change as "a step that will increase transparency and facilitate land redemption". The cabinet also decided to repeal a legal requirement for a transaction permit to complete any purchase of real estate, thereby reducing oversight meant to prevent fraud.Palestinians said they feared the changes would lead to more pressure on individuals to sell, as well as acts of forgery and deceit.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - who heads the Palestinian Authority (PA), governing parts of the West Bank - called the measures "dangerous" and an "open Israeli attempt to legalise settlement expansion, land confiscation and the demolition of Palestinian properties, even in areas under Palestinian sovereignty".He called for the US and UN Security Council to intervene immediately.The Israeli NGO Peace Now said the cabinet's decision risked toppling the PA and involved cancelling agreements and imposing de facto annexation. It accused the Israeli government of "breaking every possible barrier on the path to massive land theft in the West Bank".In a strongly worded joint statement on Monday, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar condemned the announcement by Israel, describing it as "accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people".Their statement "warned against the continued expansionist Israeli policies and illegal measures pursued by the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which fuel violence and conflict in the region".ReutersThe Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque, is the second holiest site in Judaism and the fourth in IslamWith rights to the land at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, land sales to settlers are a murky business often involving middlemen. They are considered as treason by the PA and are therefore technically punishable by death, although convicted individuals are typically given jail terms.Other controversial steps announced by Smotrich, who has ministerial responsibility for settlement policies, and the Defence Minister, Israel Katz, include transferring building licensing at an important religious site and sensitive areas nearby in the volatile city of Hebron solely to Israeli authorities.The Cave of the Patriarchs - also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque - is revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's burial place. It is the second holiest site in Judaism and the fourth in Islam.Israeli bodies would also be given oversight and enforcement powers for environmental and archaeological matters in PA-administered areas.As well, a committee would be revived to allow the State of Israel to make "proactive" land purchases in the West Bank billed as "a step designed to secure land reserves for settlement for generations to come".In the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords, a breakthrough peace agreement, the newly created PA was given full control over Palestinian urban areas - about 20% of the territory - known as Area A. In Area B, a similar percentage, the PA had only administrative control, while Israel kept its hold on security. Israel retained full security and administrative control of 60% of the West Bank, where settlements are located, known as Area C.More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War. Those lands are wanted by Palestinians for their hoped-for independent state along with the Gaza Strip.The Trump administration has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but has not sought to check Israel's accelerated settlement construction.Smotrich, a settler who heads a pro-settler party, has vowed to double the settler population in the West Bank. In December, Israel's cabinet approved a proposal for 19 new settlements. Israel is also preparing to start construction of a contentious settlement project near Jerusalem, known as E1, which would effectively sever the northern and southern West Bank.According to the UN, a record number of more than 37,000 Palestinians were displaced in 2025 alone - a year that it says also saw record-high levels of Israeli settler violence.Netanyahu's governing coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, to which they claim religious and historic ties. The prime minister, who faces an election later this year, has declared he would never countenance the creation of a Palestinian state, which he said would be a security threat for his country.In 2024, the International Court of Justice - the UN's highest court - issued a non-binding advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories was illegal and should end.