ISRAELI PLAN TO REGISTER WEST BANK LAND AS ‘STATE PROPERTY’ NULL AND VOID -- PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

ISTANBUL, Feb 16 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The Israeli government's approval of a proposal to register large areas of the West Bank as “state property” is legally null and void, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Sunday, warning that the move aims to advance annexation and settlement expansion.

In a statement on the social media platform X, the ministry condemned the decision “in the strongest terms”, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

It also rejected any attempt to transform the lands of the occupied West Bank into state property under the authority of the occupation, along with all the consequences that entail attempts to “legitimise the crime of settlement and annexation and to create pathways that facilitate the seizure, occupation and theft of Palestinian lands and the expansion of illegal settlements.”

It stressed that the measure also constitutes a practical beginning of the annexation process and the undermining of the foundations of the Palestinian state.

The move constitutes a direct challenge to the international legal order and the will of the international community, amounting to a flagrant violation of international peace and security principles, it added.

The ministry said the decision is in “clear contradiction with United Nations resolutions, foremost among them UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirmed the illegality of settlements in all of the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”

It also cited the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which found Israel’s occupation unlawful.

“The Ministry calls on the international community, the Security Council, and all legal and international bodies to stand firmly against these accelerating unilateral illegal measures,” the statement said.

It also called for urgent action to deter the occupation and halt annexation and settlement policies that “threaten the two-state solution and the international consensus and undermine security and stability in the region.”

Earlier Sunday, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register vast swathes of the occupied West Bank as “state property”, the first such measure since Israel occupied the territory in 1967.

Under the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, Area A of the West Bank is under full Palestinian control, and Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, while Area C, accounting for about 61 per cent of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli control.

The accord limits land registration by the Palestinian Authority to Areas A and B while prohibiting it in Area C.

The latest move was part of a series of measures approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet last week aimed at expanding illegal settlement building and increasing Tel Aviv’s control of the occupied West Bank.

According to Israeli media, the measures include repealing a law that barred the sale of land in the West Bank to illegal Israeli settlers, unsealing land ownership records, and shifting authority for building permits in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration.

Israel has intensified operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation -- including killings, arrests, displacement and settlement expansion -- as a step toward formal annexation of the territory.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU