Israel’s new plan to seize Palestinian land

Israel has decided to restart the land registration process in the occupied West Bank for the first time since 1967. The move came after a proposal put forward by the country's hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Israel Katz received government approval on Sunday (February 15).

According to Israeli human rights organizations, the legal process is essentially a well-planned strategy to uproot Palestinians from their ancestral lands and formally annex the West Bank to Israel. By resuming the registration process, which has been suspended since 1984, it will become much easier for Palestinians to seize their land by limiting their ability to prove ownership.

According to the Israeli housing rights organization 'Bimcom', about 70 percent of the land in the West Bank is not officially registered. Only 30 percent of land was registered during the British or Jordanian eras.

The current Israeli government is now demanding documents from Palestinians that are almost impossible for them to obtain. Many Palestinian families have no official papers, either because they were displaced during the war or because they have been using the land for generations. As a result, this vast amount of land will become the property of the Israeli state by default due to the lack of evidence.

A similar land registration process was carried out in occupied East Jerusalem between 2018 and 2024. It was found that only 1 percent of the registered land was in the names of Palestinians, while the remaining 99 percent was taken over by the Israeli state or private owners. The Israeli anti-settlement organization Peace Now has described the process as a “full occupation” of Palestinian land.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that Israel’s land seizures and population transfers are completely illegal. Despite this, Israel continues to pursue its settlement expansion goals, ignoring pressure from Beijing or Washington.

Israel’s Supreme Court last month rejected an appeal by human rights groups against the registration process. The court said it would be premature to issue a ruling before the government’s decision is implemented.

Experts believe the measure is confining the Palestinians to a very small area, which is a gross violation of international law and will further fuel the long-term conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera.