{"id":17629,"date":"2026-02-18T18:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/17629\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T18:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:50:09","slug":"israel-cements-control-of-the-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/17629\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel cements control of the West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved a process to restart land registration in the occupied West Bank<\/a> for the first time since 1967, allowing the state to claim land from Palestinians unable to prove ownership.<\/p>\n

A week earlier, on 8 February, the cabinet had ratified new measures<\/a> extending the Israeli state’s administrative, legal, and enforcement authority across large areas of the West Bank that are currently under Palestinian Authority (PA) administration. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Together, these cabinet decisions cement Israeli control over the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)<\/a> by expanding settlement authority and transferring planning and enforcement powers away from Palestinian municipalities to Israeli bodies.<\/p>\n

The changes would ease land acquisition for Jewish settlers<\/a> in the West Bank by lifting long-standing restrictions on buying Palestinian-owned land and declassifying local land records, allowing them to seize or purchase property beyond Area C – 60% of the West Bank – into Areas A and B, under partial or full PA civilian control under the Oslo Accords.<\/p>\n

Under the new arrangements, planning, building permits, and construction in the Old City of Hebron<\/a> and in some areas near Bethlehem will also be authorised through Israeli military and settler-linked bodies. The legal changes will also make it easier for Israel to demolish homes in areas under PA jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

This transfer of authority will also tighten Israeli control over sensitive cultural and religious sites such as Hebron\u2019s Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and Rachel\u2019s Tomb in Bethlehem. Israeli bodies would also assume oversight and enforcement over environmental and archaeological regulation in PA-administered areas.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz, have openly stated that the latest steps aim to annex the West Bank<\/a> and \u201ccontinue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state\u201d. Energy minister Eli Cohen described them as \u201cde facto sovereignty\u201d over occupied Palestinian lands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, has long rejected the establishment of any Palestinian state, framing it as a security threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is openly rejecting a two-state solution, offering instead either genocide, like in Gaza, or an apartheid regime to cement its colonial settlement enterprise,\u201d Palestinian political analyst Xavier Abu Eid\u00a0told The New Arab, highlighting a consensus among Israeli political parties on a single-state plan from the river to the sea, reflected by their overt public opposition to an internationally endorsed two-state solution.<\/p>\n

Analysts say the new Israeli measures are a deliberate rupture with the Oslo Accords, which divided the West Bank between areas under Israeli control and areas where the PA exercises limited autonomy, consolidating de facto annexation while burying the prospects of Palestinian statehood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Israel has been building illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land for decades, with 700,000 settlers now living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. [Getty]<\/p>\n

Accelerating the annexation of the West Bank<\/p>\n

In previous statements, US President Donald Trump has publicly ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank, though his administration has not acted to curb accelerated settlement building that Palestinians say undermines their prospects for a state. The US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza also recognised Palestinian aspirations for statehood.<\/p>\n

Over 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – territories captured in 1967 and claimed by Palestinians, along with Gaza, for a future state – where settlement construction, considered illegal under international law, has been repeatedly condemned by the UN.<\/p>\n

A senior representative of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), who asked to remain anonymous, told TNA that every Israeli government has always intended to annex the West Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whereas earlier governments advanced this goal gradually under the pretence of preserving the possibility of a two-state solution, the current leadership has shifted to a \u201cfull, open, de facto and legal annexation,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has now removed the remaining legal hurdles to its colonial practices,\u201d the Palestinian advocacy leader added, referring to the expedited land seizure and forced expulsion of Palestinian communities.<\/p>\n

The war in Gaza has created an opening for and hastened an already ongoing process of land grabs and displacement in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very much about stealing more and more Palestinian land and squeezing Palestinians into smaller and smaller areas to pressure them into leaving,\u201d British-Palestinian analyst and writer Kamel Hawwash told TNA.<\/p>\n

He also raised concerns about the 1950 Absentee Property Law, which allows Israel to seize property from Palestinians who fled or were expelled after 29 November 1947 – when the UN recommended the partition of Palestine – thereby blocking their return or recovery of property lost in the 1948 Nakba.<\/p>\n

While creeping annexation has been a policy of every Israeli government, the current leadership is accelerating the process of cementing permanent control over the West Bank. [Getty]<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is full-fledged annexation. The reality is already here; no one can claim they didn\u2019t know what was happening,\u201d Abu Eid\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that Israel\u2019s occupation, annexation, settlement expansion, land confiscation, and exploitation of Palestinian resources were illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is taking bold steps meant to strengthen its position and take more Palestinian land, because it is confident enough that there will be no consequences for their crimes,\u201d Abu Eid added.<\/p>\n

Erasing Palestinian identity and rights<\/p>\n

UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned<\/a> that Israel\u2019s actions would fast-track the dispossession of Palestinians and their forcible transfer, fuel more settlement construction, and further strip Palestinians of resources and rights.<\/p>\n

Countries worldwide have condemned Israel\u2019s moves to impose its unlawful sovereignty, and UN officials have urged their reversal, yet no meaningful international corrective actions or sanctions have followed for abuses against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

The decisions also further erode the PA\u2019s limited powers. While observing that the regulations directly impact the Palestinian leadership\u2019s already \u201cvery little authority\u201d, the senior PIPD official questioned what it can do under Israeli control.<\/p>\n

The settler movement has long harboured dreams of a ‘Greater Israel’. [Getty]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Palestinian Authority has no sovereignty over most of the West Bank. It is incapable of confronting the military occupation or its colonial ruler,\u201d they asserted, while criticising the governing body for its complicity in maintaining the status quo. \u201cIt is subservient to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abu Eid\u00a0pointed out that without the prospect of an end to the occupation and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the PA cannot exist or sustain itself in the face of Israel\u2019s entrenched position and the lack of international action.<\/p>\n

The political commentator lambasted individual states and the global community for being unwilling to adopt even minimal punitive measures, insisting that Israel must pay a price for decades of ongoing violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the international community does not understand that normalising what is happening in Palestine means the end of even the prospect of a rules-based multilateral order, then it has completely missed the point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The recent Israeli directives are a culmination of two years of a devastating war on Gaza, labelled a genocide by the UN, and a sweeping military campaign in the West Bank<\/a>, which has displaced tens of thousands and destroyed several refugee camps. In January alone, 700 Palestinians were displaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has a clear trajectory. Its Zionist colonial expansion is ongoing and now accelerating,\u201d the PIPD member warned, urging the international community to act decisively instead of being detached from reality.<\/p>\n

Hawwash described the approved tightening of control over the West Bank as an \u201cattack on Palestinians as a whole,\u201d arguing that Israel seeks to erase Palestinians\u2019 designation both as refugees and as a people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about ending Palestinian identity. They don\u2019t just oppose a Palestinian state; they don\u2019t want anyone on the land who identifies as Palestinian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis<\/p>\n

Follow her on Twitter:\u00a0@AlessandraBajec<\/a><\/p>\n

Edited by Charlie Hoyle<\/p>\n