Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday approved measures aimed at deepening Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and undermining the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority.
An Israeli soldier points his weapon at the camera during a weekly visit to settlers in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on February 7, 2026. (Reuters)Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s office announced the decision in a statement that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, adding that “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Yonatan Mizrachi, a researcher at the anti-Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now, called the decision “very significant.” He said the decision still needed the approval of Israel’s top commander for the West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the decision “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legitimize settlement expansion” and land confiscation in a statement. He called on the United States and the UN Security Council to intervene immediately.
Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned the decision, which it said was “aimed at imposing illegal Israeli sovereignty” and settlements.
The steps include lifting the ban on the sale of West Bank land to Israeli Jews, declassifying West Bank land registry records to facilitate land acquisition, handing over construction plans for religious and other sensitive sites in the troubled city of Hebron to Israeli authorities, and allowing Israeli enforcement of environmental and archaeological issues in the Palestinian-Mini area.
The measures would revive a committee that would allow the State of Israel to “proactively” purchase land in the region – “a move intended to guarantee the preservation of land for settlement for future generations.”
In a statement issued late Sunday, Peace Now called the decision “breaking down every possible barrier to massive land grabs in the West Bank.” Notably, it said, Israeli authorities would be able to demolish construction in Palestinian-controlled areas if it deemed it harmful to heritage or the environment.
The West Bank is divided between an Israeli-controlled part with settlements and an equal 40% of the territory that the Palestinian Authority has autonomy.
Palestinians are not allowed to sell land privately to Israelis. Settlers can buy homes on land controlled by the Israeli government.
Asked about settler claims that the current system discriminates against Jews, Mizrachi said the entire system in the West Bank discriminates against Palestinians, who are not allowed to vote in Israeli elections and face Israeli military operations and travel bans.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories occupied by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly views Israeli settlement construction in the area as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Smotrich, formerly a firebrand settler leader and now finance minister, has been given cabinet-level authority over settlement policies and has pledged to double the settler population in the West Bank.
Settler group Regavim praised Sunday’s decision in a statement, saying it would protect traditional sites in the West Bank and “finally” make the land registry accessible and transparent.
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In December, Israel’s cabinet approved a proposal to build 19 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank as the government pushes ahead with construction, further threatening the prospect of a Palestinian state. And Israel has cleared the final hurdle before starting construction on a controversial settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, according to a government tender released in January.