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Published On 15 Feb 202615 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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The Israeli government has approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as \u201cstate property,\u201d for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967.<\/p>\n
Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Sunday said the proposal was submitted by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Defence Minister Israel Katz.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are continuing the settlement revolution to control all our lands,\u201d said Smotrich.<\/p>\n
Most Palestinian land is not formally registered because it is a long, complicated process that Israel stopped in 1967. Registration of land establishes permanent ownership. International law states an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian Presidency slammed the Israeli government\u2019s decision, calling it a \u201cserious escalation\u201d and saying the Israeli move effectively nullifies signed agreements and clearly contradicts resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, Wafa news agency reported.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Katz described the move as an \u201cessential security and governance measure designed to ensure control, enforcement, and full freedom of action for the State of Israel in the area\u201d, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved measures promoted by Smotrich and Katz that further facilitate the unlawful seizure of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
Analysts describe it as a de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory, warning that it will profoundly reshape its civil and legal landscape by eliminating what the Israeli ministers called longstanding \u201clegal obstacles\u201d to the expansion of illegal settlements there.<\/p>\n
Speaking from Ramallah, political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera Israel is \u201cpacking annexation into some sort of a bureaucratic move\u201d. He said the International Court of Justice in 2024 said the Israeli actions amount to annexation of the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople should understand this is not just a step towards annexation, we are experiencing annexation as we speak today. What the Israeli government is doing is implanting their political programme \u2013 a policy that has already been presented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Palestinian landowners are going to face more threats and intimidation from Israeli settlers supported by the Israeli government, he warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a01 min info Published On 15 Feb 202615 Feb 2026 Click here to share on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,803,2563,129,3,2485,452,453],"class_list":["post-470207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}