Israel Quietly Annexing The West Bank As Settler Rules Change

Israel Accused Of Quietly Annexing The West Bank As Settler Rules Change

Israel has approved a series of new measures in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians, Arab governments, Israeli human rights groups and the UK say amount to de facto annexation of the territory.

The changes, approved by Israel’s security cabinet and announced by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will dramatically ease the transfer of Palestinian land to Jewish settlers by dismantling long-standing legal barriers and oversight.

“We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich said, leaving little doubt about the government’s intent.

Under the new rules, Israel will cancel a decades-old prohibition on the direct sale of West Bank land to Jews and declassify local land registry records. Previously, settlers could only purchase property via registered companies operating on land under Israeli government control.

The cabinet also scrapped a requirement for official transaction permits on property purchases — a safeguard designed to prevent fraud, coercion and illegal seizures.

Palestinians warned the changes would fuel intimidation, forgery and forced sales, accelerating the steady erosion of Palestinian land ownership across the territory.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the move “dangerous” and described it as an open attempt to legalise settlement expansion, land confiscation and the demolition of Palestinian property — even in areas nominally under Palestinian control. He urged the United States and the UN Security Council to intervene.

Israeli anti-occupation group Peace Now said the decision could destabilise the Palestinian Authority and accused the government of tearing up existing agreements to impose annexation “by stealth”.

“All settlements are illegal under international law,” the group said, warning the move removes the final barriers to mass land theft.

The UK government said it “strongly condemned” the decision, calling any unilateral change to the geographic or demographic makeup of Palestinian territory “wholly unacceptable” and inconsistent with international law.

Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and the UAE issued a joint statement warning the measures would accelerate illegal annexation and deepen regional instability.

The announcement comes just days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump in Washington, as UN data shows West Bank settlement expansion reached record levels last year — further dimming prospects for a two-state solution.

SOURCE BBC