The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Sunday declared that the Israeli government’s approval of a proposal to classify extensive areas of the West Bank as “state property” is legally invalid, warning that the decision is aimed at accelerating annexation and expanding settlements.
In a statement posted on the social media platform X, the ministry denounced the move “in the strongest terms.”
It rejected what it described as efforts to convert occupied West Bank into state property under Israeli authority, along with all related consequences, including attempts to “legitimize 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.”
The ministry said the step represents a practical start to annexation and undermines the foundations of a future Palestinian state.
It added that the decision poses a direct challenge to the international legal order and reflects disregard for the will of the international community, calling it a serious breach of principles governing international peace and security.
The statement said the measure stands 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 referenced an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which determined that Israel’s occupation is 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 urged swift international intervention to deter what it described as annexation and settlement policies that “threaten the two-state solution, the international consensus, and undermine security and stability in the region.”
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli government approved the plan to register large portions of the occupied West Bank as state property, marking the first such initiative since Israel took control of the territory in 1967.
Under the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, Area A of the West Bank falls under full Palestinian civil and security control, while Area B is under Palestinian civil administration with Israeli security oversight. Area C, which constitutes roughly 61 percent of the territory, remains under full Israeli control.
The agreement restricts the Palestinian Authority’s land registration authority to Areas A and B and bars it from registering land in Area C.
The latest decision forms part of a broader set of measures approved last week by Israel’s Security Cabinet aimed at expanding settlement construction and tightening Israeli control over the West Bank.
Israeli media reported that the steps include repealing legislation that prohibited the sale of West Bank land to Israeli settlers, reopening sealed land ownership files, and transferring authority for construction permits in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration.
Israel has intensified its activities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023.
Palestinians view the escalation — encompassing killings, arrests, displacement and settlement growth — as part of a broader push toward formal annexation.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and calling for the removal of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
