The European Union called on Israel to reverse the move.
“This constitutes a new escalation after recent measures already aimed at extending Israeli control,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.
“We reiterate that annexation is illegal under international law.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed that point and called the move “destabilising”, warning the “decision could lead to the dispossession of Palestinians of their property”.
He also called for the decision’s immediate reversal, adding in a statement from his spokesman that “the current trajectory on the ground is eroding the prospect for the two-State solution”.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority called for international intervention to prevent the “de facto beginning of the annexation process and the undermining of the foundations of the Palestinian state”.
Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called the measure a “mega land grab”.
Jonathan Mizrachi, the NGO’s co-director, told AFP that the move would attribute new resources for land registration.
The process will take place only in Area C, which constitutes some 60% of West Bank territory and is under Israeli security and administrative control.
“There was a lot of ambiguity regarding the land, and Israel decided now to deal with it,” Mizrachi said, adding that the grey area over Area C land ownership is likely to be used against Palestinians.
“A lot of land that Palestinians consider theirs, they will find out it’s not theirs under this new registration process,” he said, believing the move would further the Israeli right’s annexation agenda.
Changing demography
Palestinians see the West Bank as foundational to any future Palestinian state, but many on Israel’s religious right want to take over the land.
Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of measures backed by far-right ministers to tighten control over areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo accords, in place since the 1990s.
Those measures, which also sparked international backlash, include allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly and allowing Israeli authorities to administer certain religious sites in areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control.
The latest Israeli initiatives come in the wider context of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to rights groups.
“We are witnessing rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory, stripping its people of their lands and forcing them to leave,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a recent statement.
US President Donald Trump has opposed Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, saying stability in the territory helps keep Israel secure.
However, Trump has held off from directly criticising the new Israeli measures, despite the international outrage.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.
Around three million Palestinians live in the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
- Agence France-Presse
