Israeli minister says Netanyahu's new measures 'de facto sovereignty' over West Bank
A senior Israeli official has openly acknowledged that the measures approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet this week amount to “de facto sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank.
Israel's energy minister Eli Cohen said on Tuesday that the measures “actually establish a fact on the ground that there will not be a Palestinian state.”
Under the new policies announced on Sunday, the regime will ease restrictions on Israeli settlers purchasing land in the West Bank, lift confidentiality on land registry records, and expand enforcement powers in Areas A and B, zones that, under long-standing agreements, are supposed to remain under Palestinian Authority administration
Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights groups have denounced the new measures as steps towards annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian Authority’s vice president, Hussein Al Sheikh, condemned the measures and called on all civil and security institutions to reject them.
Posting on social media, he said Israel’s actions “contradict international law and the agreements signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization.”
Anti-settlement group Peace Now described them as “a direct violation of the international agreements to which Israel is committed. They are steps toward the annexation of Areas A and B.”
Meanwhile, a group of eight Arab and Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement warning that the measures would “fuel violence and conflict in the region.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern, saying the steps “drive us further and further away from a two-State solution.”
Israel’s far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich said the policies would make it easier for Israeli settlers to acquire Palestinian land. He threatened that Israel “will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The occupied West Bank, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians, is part of the territory Palestinians seek for a future independent state, alongside Gaza and occupied al-Quds.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in illegal settlements and outposts in the region.
The Israeli army regularly carries out raids, arrests, and restrictions, while settler attacks against Palestinians have also intensified since the start of the Gaza genocide, often under the protection of Israeli forces.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s occupation of historical Palestine illegal. The ICJ demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds.
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