[News] Israeli cabinet votes to formalize annexation of occupied West Bank territory

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Israeli cabinet votes to formalize annexation of occupied
  West Bank territory

Israel will take over land registration in Area C of the West Bank, in a 
move that amounts to 'annexation on steroids'

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

MAY 13, 2025 - 
https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-cabinet-votes-to-formalize-annexation-of-occupied-west-bank-territory

(Photo credit: Reuters)

In a landmark and highly controversial decision, Israel's cabinet voted 
<https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hj2alsezel>on 13 May to take full 
responsibility for land registration in Area C of the occupied West Bank 
– an area comprising around 60 percent of the territory and home to the 
vast majority of Israeli settlements. The move, pushed by far-right 
Ministers Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, is widely being described by 
critics as a de facto annexation of Palestinian land.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, Area C was placed under temporary Israeli 
control, with an eventual transition to Palestinian Authority (PA) 
administration expected. That transition never materialized. Now, with 
the new cabinet resolution, any land registration efforts by 
Palestinians in Area C will be declared legally void by Israel. Israeli 
authorities plan to initiate formal land registration processes, conduct 
widespread land surveys, and potentially reclassify vast tracts as 
“state land,” opening them for settlement expansion.

Under international law, all Israeli settlement in the occupied West 
Bank is illegal.

“This is a dangerous step toward realizing the messianic vision of the 
annexationist government,” said Israeli rights group Yesh Din, warning 
that the move violates international law and threatens the rights of 
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Palestinian activists, such as Ayed Jafry from the village of Sinjil, 
say the policy will further entrench dispossession. “We're now dealing 
directly with the occupation again,” he told 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-take-full-control-land-registry-area-c-annexation>/Middle 
East Eye/ (MEE). “This opens the door for settlers to seize land without 
oversight.”

According to Israeli media, the government is changing its policy from 
restricting land use unless permitted to broadly permitting land claims 
unless explicitly prohibited. Finance Minister Smotrich declared the 
move part of a broader campaign of “normalization and de facto 
sovereignty,” aiming to eliminate any prospects for a future Palestinian 
state.

The decision also directs Israeli security agencies to block Palestinian 
land registration efforts, deny foreign support for such projects, and 
create an inter-ministerial team to coordinate land registration within 
60 days.

The development comes as Israel's Knesset prepares to debate a bill that 
would further ease land purchases for settlers, even within Palestinian 
towns. These efforts coincide with new land surveys by the Civil 
Administration's Regulation Unit, overseen by Smotrich, which could 
reclassify private Palestinian lands as public Israeli state land.

Analysts warn these sweeping measures could severely damage Israel's 
diplomatic standing and bury any remaining chances of a negotiated 
two-state solution.

Dr Yohanan Tzoreff, a senior researcher at Israel's Institute for 
National Security Studies (INSS) and an expert on Palestinian affairs, 
said <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hj2alsezel>these steps amount to 
annexation.

“This is Smotrich's life mission – he wants to entrench irreversible 
facts on the ground that prevent any possibility of a future two-state 
agreement,” he said. “In the past, this kind of move was done 
cautiously. Now it's annexation on steroids.”

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