Israel unabatedly continues its expansionist policy in the West Bank. The US, United Nations and several Arab states have criticised Israel as it expands powers in the occupied West Bank by allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power.
A WHITE HOUSE official has reiterated Donald Trump’s opposition towards Israel annexing the West Bank, after Israeli plans were announced that would pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The measures, announced on Sunday (February 8), included allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power. It is still unclear when the new rules, approved by Israel’s security cabinet, would take effect but they do not require further approval.
As regional states and others condemned the plan, a White House official on Monday (February 9) said that “a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.”
Antonio Guterres
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric in a statement said that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “gravely concerned” about the situation. He said Guterres warned that “the current trajectory on the ground, including this decision, is eroding the prospect for the two-State solution.”
More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Around three million Palestinians live there.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — who heads the Palestinian Authority (PA), governing parts of the West Bank — called the measures “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legalise settlement expansion, land confiscation and the demolition of Palestinian properties, even in areas under Palestinian sovereignty”. He called for the US and UN Security Council to intervene immediately.
The Israeli NGO Peace Now said the cabinet’s decision risked toppling the PA and involved cancelling agreements and imposing de facto annexation. It accused the Israeli government of “breaking every possible barrier on the path to massive land theft in the West Bank”.
The UK has said it “strongly condemned” the move and called on Israel to reverse the decision, saying “any unilateral attempt to alter the geographic or demographic make-up of Palestine is wholly unacceptable and would be inconsistent with international law”.
Map indicating the geographical location of the West Bank.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar described the announcement as “accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people”.
Their statement “warned against the continued expansionist Israeli policies and illegal measures pursued by the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which fuel violence and conflict in the region”.
They further said the move meant to entrench Israeli settlement of the West Bank, displacing Palestinians and imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty there. Annexing the territory has long been a priority of far-right parties in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey all have diplomatic relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia has said it will not establish such relations until the formation of a Palestinian state.
The Controversial Decision: Settlement Expansion and Annexation
Sunday’s decisions by Israel’s security cabinet will make it easier for Jewish settlers to buy land in the West Bank and give Israeli authorities more power to act in areas supposedly under full Palestinian control, two senior Israeli ministers said.
One of them, ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said in announcing the decisions that the government would “continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Civilians move through devastated areas amid ongoing hostilities.
Most nations have long backed the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as the best way to resolve the generations-old conflict and see the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, as the largest part of that future state.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz and Smotrich issued a joint statement explaining the decisions of the five-member security cabinet, which were not published in full.
The security cabinet decided to repeal a law dating from Jordan’s control of the West Bank before 1967 to make land registries public rather than confidential, and to remove a requirement for a permit from a civil administration office.
Hagit Ofran from the Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now said the decision was barred by international law and represented a step toward annexation of the West Bank.
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The Yesha Council, a gathering of illegal settlements, celebrated the decision as the “most important in 58 years”, stating that the Israeli government is now declaring, in practice, that “the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people”.
What the Move Entails: Area A, B, C and Oslo Accords Impact
Perhaps the most aggressive shift in the new directives is the authorisation for Israeli forces to conduct enforcement and demolitions in Area A and B zones, which under the Oslo Accords, are supposed to be under Palestinian civil and security control.
A resident surveys destruction following Israeli strikes.
Area C, which is under total Israeli control, constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank. More than 700,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in Area C and occupied East Jerusalem across more than 250 illegal settlements.
To bypass international law, Israel has introduced a new legal mechanism: the “Protection of Antiquities and Environment”.
“Israel has erased the distinctions between Areas A, B, and C,” Daoud noted, explaining that this policy was financially primed three years ago when the cabinet allocated 120 million shekels ($39m) to “protect Jewish heritage sites” in the West Bank.
The decision also institutionalises a system of “municipal apartheid” in key Palestinian cities, removing them from PA jurisdiction.
Religious and Political Implications: Ibrahimi Mosque and Heritage Control
Overall, these decisions might sound as continuation of Israel’s expansionist policies flouting all international norms and rule of law, but they also have long-term religious and political implications.
For example, the Ibrahimi Mosque, a Muslim holy site which was earlier managed by the Palestinian Awqaf, is no longer treated as a Muslim site, as its management has been transferred to the Jewish Religious Council in Kiryat Arba.
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Israel has effectively Judaised its identity by law, not just by force. In 2010, the Israeli government had already proclaimed the Ibrahimi Mosque located in Hebron as a “Jewish Heritage site”.
If the international community continues to keep silent on the issue, a day is not far off before Israel annexes the whole West Bank and other Palestinian settlements, coupled with its plan to commercialise the Gaza front for the benefit of its American supporters. 
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Asad Mirza
The author is a New Delhi-based senior commentator on national and international affairs, defence and strategic issues, and environmental concerns. He is also an interfaith practitioner and a media consultant. Previously, he was associated with the BBC Urdu Service and the Khaleej Times in Dubai.
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