Israel authorises West Bank land registration policy
Shafaq News- Middle East
Israel approved a plan to register Palestinian lands in the West Bank as “state property,” a step not taken since the 1967 Six-Day War, a local media outlet reported on Sunday.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the initiative, introduced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, aims to restart the West Bank land settlement system and streamline property registration.
A joint statement from Katz, Levin, and Smotrich indicated that the registration will prevent unilateral moves and reinforce Israel’s control over its territory. It added that the Land Registration and Settlement Authority in the Israeli Justice Ministry will receive the authority, budgets, and staff required to carry out the process.
“The registration process will examine property rights with transparency, resolve legal disputes, and support organized infrastructure projects,” the statement concluded.
Earlier this month, Israel’s Cabinet approved measures designed to alter the legal and civil status in the West Bank, further reinforcing Israeli control. The measures expanded monitoring and enforcement powers into areas classified as “A” and “B,” citing unlicensed construction, water issues, and damage to archaeological and environmental sites. The powers allow demolitions and property seizures even in areas under the Palestinian Authority’s administrative and security control.
Hamas described the Israeli decision as an attempt to “steal” West Bank lands and impose settlement realities by registering them as “state lands,” labeling the move “invalid and issued by an occupying authority with no legitimacy.”
Urging the United Nations, the Security Council, and the international community to assume responsibility, the group stressed that Palestinians, along with all national and resistance forces, will continue to resist annexation plans and confront Israel’s expansionist policies.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) previously reported that nearly 700 Palestinians have been displaced across nine communities in the West Bank since the start of 2026 due to Israeli settler attacks. In its update issued on February 5, OCHA recorded that between January 20 and February 2, Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, among them one child. During the same period, 111 Palestinians were also injured, including 12 children.
