Overview
- Israel has approved resuming land registration in the occupied West Bank, enabling large tracts to be listed as state property and easing restrictions on land sales and access to registries.
- The measures extend Israeli civil authority into areas previously under Palestinian Authority control, including shifting permitting powers in parts of Hebron and citing heritage and environmental grounds for enforcement.
- A coalition of 85 UN member states and international organizations condemned the steps as unlawful and called for reversal, while Israel described them as administrative property-law changes; the United States did not join the statement.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the policy risks dispossessing Palestinians, and UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council the moves amount to a gradual de facto annexation.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the next government to encourage Palestinian migration and to nullify the Oslo Accords, as plans advance to extend Jerusalem’s reach near the Adam/Geva Binyamin settlement.