Overview
- Israel’s security cabinet approved measures lifting restrictions on land sales to Israelis, opening West Bank land registries, transferring building-permit authority in parts of Hebron, and reviving a state land‑acquisition committee.
- Officials say the steps expand Israeli enforcement and planning powers into areas long administered by the Palestinian Authority, a shift critics describe as de facto annexation that erodes the Oslo framework.
- Senior ministers, including Energy Minister Eli Cohen, said the moves create “de facto sovereignty” and would block a Palestinian state, echoing public remarks by Bezalel Smotrich and Israel Katz.
- The UN secretary-general and the UN human rights chief condemned the decisions as unlawful and warned they would accelerate Palestinian dispossession; the EU, UK and Spain issued similar objections, and eight Muslim‑majority states released a joint denunciation.
- The White House reiterated President Donald Trump’s opposition to formal annexation ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington visit, while the Palestinian Authority urged institutions to reject the measures and legal challenges in Israel were reported as likely.