Israeli cabinet approves occupied West Bank land registration, Palestinians condemn 'de-facto annexation'

For the first time since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, its cabinet on Sunday approved a land registration process in the occupied territory, alongside additional measures aimed at tightening Israeli control and making it easier for settlers to purchase land. Palestinians denounced the move as “a de facto annexation.”

According to public broadcaster KAN and other Israeli media outlets, ministers voted to begin registering land in the name of the Israeli state, a step officials say will formalize property claims and create a legal framework for acquisitions in the West Bank.

While parts of the West Bank are administered by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), much of it remains under Israeli military occupation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, calling it a security threat. His coalition includes pro-settler parties that advocate annexing the West Bank, territory Israel says holds biblical and historical significance.

“We are continuing the revolution of settlement and strengthening our hold across all parts of our land,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s government and a settler himself, said following the vote.

Defense Minister Israel Katz described the land registration initiative as a vital security measure intended to ensure control, law enforcement and full freedom of action for Israeli authorities in the territory.

In a joint statement also signed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the government said the decision would allow the registration “in the name of the state” of vast areas of land and serve as an “appropriate response to illegal land registration processes promoted by the Palestinian Authority” in Area C of the West Bank. Under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank is divided into Areas A, B and C, with Area C under full Israeli control.

Israeli officials say the measure will reduce land disputes and prevent what they describe as illegal seizures. Katz said the “resumption of land regularization in Judea and Samaria” — Israel’s names for the West Bank — would bolster governance and security, disrupt “terrorist infrastructure” and safeguard national interests.

Palestinian leaders strongly rejected the move. The PA presidency said the decision “constitutes a de facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and a declaration of the commencement of annexation plans aimed at entrenching the occupation through illegal settlement activity.”

The PA described the measure as a “dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international law,” arguing it contradicts U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, which states that Israeli settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity.

The United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice, said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its settlements there are illegal and should end as soon as possible. Israel disputes that assessment, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.

The latest decision follows other measures approved earlier this month that further ease land purchases by settlers and expand Israeli authority over certain religious sites, including in areas nominally under Palestinian Authority control.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live among roughly three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Settlement expansion has accelerated under Netanyahu’s current government, with a record number of new settlements approved in 2025, according to the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he does not support formal Israeli annexation of the West Bank, though his administration has not moved to curb settlement expansion, which Palestinians argue is steadily eroding the land base of any future state.