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Israel’s move to tighten its control on the West Bank by repealing its land laws and opening confidential land registries has drawn criticism from the international community, including the United States, which is its strongest ally.
Last Sunday, the Israeli security cabinet approved a series of steps aimed at making it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land. These steps also granted Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians.
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Although the West Bank is currently under Israeli military control, it is considered part of Palestine under international law. Palestinians also view the West Bank as a part of the territories that should form their independent state.
Israel, in a bid to deepen its control over the occupied territory, scrapped decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish citizens from buying land in the West Bank.
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This includes allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, unsealing land ownership records, and re-establishing a state land-acquisition committee to purchase territory for settlements.
Israeli authorities can now oversee areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences, and damage to archaeological sites.
Al Jazeera reports that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz have imposed these new measures. However, experts have described this as equivalent to a de facto annexation.
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The finance minister openly stated that this movie 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.
Israel’s action is considered a violation of the Oslo Accords, which preserve Palestinian self-governance in designated areas and prevent unilateral expansion of Israeli administrative authority.
US reaction
The White House, in a statement on Monday, declared that President Donald Trump does not support the annexation of the West Bank.
The statement did not outrightly condemn Israel’s action. Instead, it stressed the need to maintain stability in the territory.
“A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.”
Last October, US Vice President JD Vance rejected preliminary approval for the plan during his visit to the country.
He described the move as a “deliberate political provocation by the opposition,” and a “stupid political stunt.”
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), the body governing parts of the West Bank, also described the measures as a dangerous “attempt to legalise settlement expansion, land confiscation and the demolition of Palestinian properties, even in areas under Palestinian sovereignty”.
The body urged the intervention of the US and the UN Security Council to stop the Israeli government.
EU, Arab countries condemn Israel
The UK has also “strongly condemned” Israel’s decision to control the West Bank.
In a statement issued on Monday, the UK said the proposed changes in the West Bank would undermine efforts to advance peace and stability.
“The UK has been clear: any unilateral attempt to alter the geographic or demographic make-up of Palestine is wholly unacceptable and would be inconsistent with international law. We call on Israel to reverse these decisions immediately.
“A two-state solution remains the only viable path to long-term peace with a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestine,” it said.
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According to the BBC, EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists that “the European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel’s security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank. This move is another step in the wrong direction.”
Joining in on the condemnation, Arab and Muslim countries have said that the annexation of the West Bank would mark an end to Israel’s normalization in the region.
In a joint statement, the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia said such illegal measures violated international law and undermined the two-state solution.
The ministers also declared that Israel’s actions threaten the rights of the Palestinian people and hinder efforts to achieve just and comprehensive peace and stability.
“The illegal measures are aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity, and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people,” the signatories said in a joint statement.
They called on the international community “to compel Israel to halt its dangerous escalation in the occupied West Bank and the inciting statements of its officials.”
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