The opening up of property rights, and the sweeping transfer of civilian powers in Palestinian-run areas, marks a significant shift in Israel’s long expansion of control over the West Bank, which has escalated after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, and the war in Gaza.
“We are deepening our roots in all parts of the land of Israel,” said Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who has responsibility for settlement policies, when he announced the new measures. “And burying the idea of a Palestinian state.”
“Judea and Samaria is the Jewish homeland of the people of Israel,” said Zvi Sukkot, a lawmaker in Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party. “I expect there to be full Israeli sovereignty here, but in the meantime at least we can supervise, so there will be no environmental harm, and we won’t harm the heritage of the people of Israel, even if it’s in Palestinian-run areas.”
But these latest legal changes not only demolish the agreements Israel signed decades ago, they also drive a hole through the remaining powers of the Palestinian Authority, which has been earmarked in Donald Trump’s peace plan to eventually take over power from Hamas.