Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved a series of measures aimed at increasing Israel's control over the occupied West Bank, including the removal of rules that barred Jews from buying land. The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah, the European Union and several Muslim countries condemned these decisions.
Published on: 02/09/2026 - 00:51 Modified on: 02/09/2026 - 16:24
Measures to strengthen the control of the Jewish state over the occupied West Bank, particularly over areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli security cabinet approved, on Sunday February 8, a series of rules which should "fundamentally modify the legal and civil reality" in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, indicates a joint press release from the Ministries of Finance and Defense.
According to the text, regulations dating from when Jordan administered the West Bank, before 1967, and which prohibited Jews from buying land must be removed.
The measures should also allow Israeli authorities to administer certain religious sites, even when they are located in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority. This concerns in particular the tomb of the Patriarchs or mosque of Ibrahim, holy place for the three monotheisms in Hebron, and the tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem.
Also read: In pictures: the intensification of colonization in the occupied West Bank
In Hebron, where Israeli settlers live under military protection within the city, the construction procedure must also be simplified. Until now, their building permits had to be approved by the Palestinian municipality and the Israeli authorities, but now only the latter should be able to decide.
The security cabinet, by applying Israel's control in zones A and B which depend according to the Oslo Accords on the Palestinian Authority, wants to fight against "offenses related to water, attacks on archaeological sites and environmental nuisances polluting the entire region".
“We are deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state,” greeted Bezalel Smotrich, a figure of the extreme right, himself a settler and supporter of an annexation of the West Bank, also in charge of civil affairs at the Ministry of Defense.
Israel Katz, Minister of Defense, affirmed that "Judea and Samaria is the heart of the country and its strengthening constitutes a security, national and Zionist interest of the first order", using the biblical name for the West Bank used by the Israeli authorities.
“A new step in the wrong direction”
The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah condemned the decisions, saying they aimed to "deepen attempts to annex the occupied West Bank."
Saudi Arabia and seven other Muslim-majority countries also denounced the imposition of "a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank."
“In accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, we recall that the annexation is illegal under international law,” said Anouar El Anouni, an EU spokesperson, saying that these measures represented “a new step in the wrong direction”.
Read alsoIn the occupied West Bank, settlers want to make the creation of a Palestinian state impossible
Excluding East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel, some three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, alongside more than 500,000 Israelis installed in colonies deemed illegal under international law.
“The Israeli government today declared, de facto, that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” said the Yesha Council, an organization that represents the majority of settlers in the West Bank.
The growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank reached a record level in 2025 since UN monitoring began in 2017, according to a report by the UN Secretary-General.
With AFP
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