- Israel's security cabinet approved sweeping measures on Feb. 8 to overhaul the legal and civil framework governing the occupied West Bank, which officials say will accelerate settlement development.
- The measures include repealing Jordanian-era land laws, transferring building permit authority from Palestinian municipalities to Israel's Civil Administration and unsealing land ownership records, facilitating settlement expansion.
- Israeli media report the overhaul could legalize home demolitions in Area A under archaeological pretexts and extend Israeli authority into areas meant to be under Palestinian control under the Oslo Accords.
- Critics say the policies violate existing agreements, including the Oslo Accords and the 1997 Hebron Protocol, and amount to a de facto annexation and erosion of Palestinian self-rule.
- The Palestinian Authority and Hamas condemned the measures, with PA President Mahmoud Abbas warning they deepen annexation, while Hamas denounced the move as part of a broader effort to eliminate Palestinian presence and called for escalated resistance.
Israel's security cabinet has approved a broad set of measures that would significantly restructure the legal and civil framework governing the occupied West Bank.
In a joint statement on Feb. 8, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the overhaul is intended to "remove decades-old barriers, repeal discriminatory Jordanian legislation and enable accelerated development of settlement on the ground."
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the new policies would effectively legalize the demolition of Palestinian homes in Area A of the occupied West Bank under archaeological justifications.
Israel's public broadcaster, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), reported that the cabinet also approved repealing Jordanian-era laws that prohibit the sale of Palestinian land in the West Bank to Jewish settlers. The measures further include transferring authority over building permits in at least one settlement bloc from Palestinian municipal bodies to Israel's Civil Administration.
The transfer of authority reportedly includes areas surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, a move that would violate the 1997 Hebron Protocol between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which governs the division of civil and security control in the city.
Israel already routinely demolishes Palestinian homes across the West Bank because they lack building permits – permits that Palestinians say are rarely granted by Israeli authorities. The newly approved framework would also unseal and publicize all land ownership records, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, allowing Jewish settlers to directly contact Palestinian landowners and facilitating land purchases and settlement expansion.
PA and Hamas condemn Israeli measures
The 1993 Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into Areas A, B and C. Area A was placed under full Palestinian Authority (PA) control, Area B under Palestinian civil control with Israeli security oversight and Area C, comprising the majority of the territory, under full Israeli control.
This series of agreements, as BrightU.AI's Enoch noted, was intended to be a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These accords aimed to establish mutual recognition between the two parties and pave the way for a two-state solution, with the PLO recognizing Israel's right to exist and Israel recognizing the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. But despite the agreement, Israeli settlements have continued to expand across all three areas.
In line with this, PA and Hamas officials argue that the measures amount to a further erosion of Palestinian self-rule and a formal extension of Israeli authority into areas meant to be governed by the PA.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the "dangerous decisions approved by the Israeli cabinet aimed at deepening attempts to annex the occupied West Bank." Hamas also responded to the overhaul in a statement released on Feb. 8.
"The extremist Zionist right-wing government is seeking to expand the genocidal war and eliminate the Palestinian presence across the entirety of Palestinian geography. The settlement decisions taken by the occupation government confirm its colonial program aimed at swallowing all Palestinian land and displacing its indigenous people, posing a real and existential threat," said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem.
In a separate press release, the group called on "rebellious youth throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem to escalate the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers by all available means, in order to thwart the annexation, Judaization and displacement projects."
Watch the video below about Israel preparing to annex Gaza.
This video is from the Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.
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