Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday approved new measures aimed at fundamentally reshaping the legal and civil framework in the occupied West Bank to bolster Israeli control and expand settlement activity, according to Israeli media.

The public broadcaster KAN said the decisions, pushed by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, include repealing a Jordanian-era law that bars the sale of Palestinian land to Jews in the West Bank, unsealing land ownership records, and transferring authority over building permits in a settlement bloc in the city of Hebron from the Palestinian municipality to Israel’s Civil Administration.

The measures are expected to bring sweeping changes to land registration and purchasing mechanisms in the West Bank, Yedioth Ahronoth daily said.

Opening land records would publicly disclose owners’ names and enable Israeli buyers to contact them directly, easing land purchases and settlement expansion across the territory, the outlet added.

The cabinet also scrapped the requirement for a special “transaction permit” to complete land purchases and reduced the Civil Administration’s professional oversight, limiting procedures to basic registration requirements. The paper described the move as a legal shift that would be difficult to reverse.

The decisions further extend Israeli oversight and enforcement powers into areas classified as Area A and Area B, citing alleged violations related to unlicensed construction, water issues, and damage to archaeological and environmental sites.

This would allow demolitions and seizures of Palestinian property even in areas administered civilly and security-wise by the Palestinian Authority, the reports said.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that part of the decisions affect existing arrangements in Hebron, transferring planning and construction authority at the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings, as well as other religious sites, from the Hebron municipality to planning bodies of Israel’s Civil Administration. The move would run counter to arrangements under the 1997 Hebron Protocol between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

KAN quoted Katz as saying the decisions “reflect a clear policy to strengthen the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria,” using the Hebrew term for the West Bank.

Smotrich, for his part, claimed that the steps “end discrimination against settlers,” according to the broadcaster.

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Area A is under full Palestinian civil and security control, Area B is under Palestinian civil control with Israeli security control, and Area C remains under full Israeli control.

Israeli authorities have continued to demolish Palestinian homes and structures across the West Bank on the grounds of lacking permits, amid what Palestinians describe as restrictive policies that make it difficult to obtain building approvals.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a government agency, Israel carried out 538 demolitions in 2025, affecting about 1,400 homes and structures, an unprecedented increase compared with previous years. (AA)

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