'Israel' pushes steps entrenching 'de facto annexation' in WB

According to Ynet as cited by the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV En website, the measures are expected to introduce sweeping changes to "land registration" and "acquisition procedures", significantly "altering how land ownership is recorded and enforced in the territory."

Under the approved decisions, the Israeli entity would gain expanded powers to demolish Palestinian-owned buildings, including in Area A, which is nominally under full Palestinian Authority control.

One of the most consequential steps involves lifting long-standing confidentiality restrictions on land registries in the West Bank, allowing Israeli authorities greater access to ownership records and "facilitating state intervention in land disputes".

The measures stand in contradiction to the principles of the 1997 al-Khalil  Agreement, which was signed as an interim arrangement toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian struggle in the city of al-Khalil.

Al-Khalil remains the only Palestinian city from which Israeli occupation forces did not fully withdraw during the initial redeployments that followed the Oslo II Accord, making it a particularly sensitive flashpoint in the struggle.

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has warned earlier this month that the occupied West Bank is undergoing a "silent war", as Israeli military operations and settler attacks reach record levels since the start of the war on Gaza.

"Tens of thousands of people remain displaced a year after the launch of Israel's operation 'Iron Wall' - the largest displacement since 1967," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on X.

He added that Palestinians are being prevented from returning, as Israeli forces demolish their homes, further entrenching the displacement.

According to Lazzarini, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, nearly a quarter of them children.

He condemned the growing wave of attacks by illegal settlers who, with the backing of the IOF, continue to intimidate and uproot Palestinian communities and destroy livelihoods.

MNA