Israel approves proposal to register West Bank lands as 'state property' - RocketNews

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : Listen to this articleListen to this article | 1 mininfoPublished On 15 Feb 202615 Feb 2026Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareThe Israeli government has approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as "state property," for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967.Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Sunday said the proposal was submitted by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Defence Minister Israel Katz."We are continuing the settlement revolution to control all our lands," said Smotrich.Most Palestinian land is not formally registered because it is a long, complicated process that Israel stopped in 1967.
42% : International law states an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories.The Palestinian Presidency slammed the Israeli government's decision, calling it a "serious escalation" and saying the Israeli move effectively nullifies signed agreements and clearly contradicts resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, Wafa news agency reported.Katz described the move as an "essential security and governance measure designed to ensure control, enforcement, and full freedom of action for the State of Israel in the area", the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported.Last week, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved measures promoted by Smotrich and Katz that further facilitate the unlawful seizure of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.'Null and void decision'Palestinian group Hamas condemned the decision, calling it an attempt "to steal and Judaise lands in the occupied West Bank by registering them as so-called 'state lands'".
39% : In a statement, the group called the approval "a null and void decision issued by an illegitimate occupying power"."It is an attempt to forcibly impose settlement and Judaisation on the ground, in flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions," it added.Analysts describe the move as a de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory, warning that it will profoundly reshape its civil and legal landscape by eliminating what the Israeli ministers called longstanding "legal obstacles" to the expansion of illegal settlements there.Speaking from Ramallah, political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera that Israel is "packing annexation into some sort of a bureaucratic move".

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.