The official Israeli broadcasting authority, Kan, said that the decisions, pushed by Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, included canceling the Jordanian law that prohibits the sale of Palestinian land to Jews in the West Bank, lifting the secrecy on land records, and transferring building permit powers in the settlement bloc in Hebron from the Palestinian municipality to the Israeli “Civil Administration”.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth stated that these steps will bring about profound changes in the mechanisms for registering and purchasing land, allowing for the public disclosure of the names of its owners, and enabling Israeli buyers to communicate directly with them, thus facilitating land purchases and the expansion of settlements in various areas of the West Bank.
The website added that the cabinet canceled the requirement to obtain what is known as a "transaction license" to complete purchases, and reduced the professional oversight role of the Civil Administration, so that procedures are limited to basic registration requirements, in a move it described as a legal shift that will be difficult to reverse in the future.
The decisions included expanding Israeli control and enforcement powers to include areas classified as “A” and “B”, under the pretext of violations related to unlicensed construction, water issues, and damage to archaeological and environmental sites, which allows for the implementation of demolition and confiscation operations against Palestinian properties even in areas under the administrative and security control of the Palestinian Authority.
Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Area A is under full Palestinian control, Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, while Area C is under full Israeli control.
Yedioth Ahronoth noted that part of the decisions affects the existing arrangements in the city of Hebron, as it was decided to transfer the planning and building powers in the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings, in addition to other religious sites, from the Hebron Municipality to the planning institutions of the Civil Administration (Israeli), in conflict with the arrangements of the “Hebron Agreement” signed in 1997.
Under the agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, the city of Hebron was divided into two areas, H1 and H2. Under this agreement, H1 is under the administration of the Palestinian Authority and constitutes most of the city's area, while H2, which includes the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque, remains under Israeli control.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted Defense Minister Yisrael Katz as claiming that these decisions "reflect a clear policy to strengthen the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)," as he put it, while Finance Minister Smotrich considered that the new steps "end what he described as discrimination against settlers."
The agreement is part of the transitional arrangements of the Oslo II Accord of 1995, and stipulates that any change to the status quo must be made through negotiations, not through unilateral actions.
For its part, the Council of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank said in a statement that the decisions of the Israeli Security Cabinet are "the most important in 58 years," considering that the Israeli government is "practically declaring that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people," as it claimed.
The council added that the Israeli government is "establishing de facto sovereignty on the ground," referring to decisions related to land, planning, construction, and expanding oversight and enforcement powers in various areas of the occupied West Bank.
The United Nations and the international community consider the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to be occupied territory, and deem Israeli settlement activity there illegal under international law, warning that any unilateral actions that alter the status quo would undermine the chances of reaching a two-state solution.
Palestinian condemnations
In contrast, the Palestinian presidency described the cabinet's decisions as "dangerous and unacceptable," considering that they target the Palestinian presence and its national and historical rights.
The Palestinian Presidency, in a statement carried by the Palestinian news agency WAFA, said that these steps represent "a practical implementation of the plans to annex the West Bank and displace people," and "an unprecedented escalation in the all-out war waged by the occupation government against the Palestinian people."
For its part, Hamas considered the cabinet's decisions to be aimed at "swallowing up all of the Palestinian land and displacing its original inhabitants."
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that "the settlement decisions confirm the colonial program of the extreme right-wing occupation government, which seeks to eliminate the Palestinian presence," calling for "unifying the Palestinian position and building a national program to confront the occupation's policies."
Since the start of the Israeli war of extermination on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which lasted two years, Israel has intensified its attacks in the West Bank, including killing, arrest, displacement and settlement expansion.
The attacks in the West Bank resulted in the martyrdom of at least 1,112 Palestinians, and about 11,500 injuries, in addition to the arrest of more than 21,000.
