ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom has condemned new steps approved by Israel’s security cabinet for the occupied West Bank, saying they amount to de facto annexation, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.
The UK said it “strongly condemned” the move and called on Israel to reverse the decision. A government statement said any unilateral attempt to change the geographic or demographic character of Palestine is unacceptable and violates international law.
On Monday, foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkiye, and Qatar also condemned the decision, warning it would accelerate illegal annexation and displacement of Palestinians and further fuel violence in the region.
The measures were announced by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said the moves would make it easier for Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian land. “We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state,” he said.
The report said that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
The new steps aim to strengthen Israeli control over the territory by changing rules related to property law, planning, licensing and enforcement. They are expected to be approved by Israel’s top military commander for the West Bank.
The announcement came three days ahead of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump in Washington.
According to the United Nations, settlement expansion in the West Bank last year reached its fastest pace since monitoring began.
The measures include cancelling a decades-old ban on the direct sale of West Bank land to Jews and declassifying local land registry records. Until now, settlers could only buy property through registered companies on land under Israeli government control.
Israeli ministers described the move as a step to increase transparency. Israel’s foreign ministry later said the previous system was a “racist distortion” that discriminated against non-Arabs in real estate purchases in what it calls Judea and Samaria.
The cabinet also removed the requirement for a special permit to complete real estate transactions, reducing oversight aimed at preventing fraud.
Palestinians warned the changes could increase pressure on landowners to sell and lead to forgery and deception.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the measures “dangerous” and said they were an open attempt to legalise settlement expansion, land confiscation and the demolition of Palestinian property, including in areas under Palestinian Authority control. He urged the United States and the UN Security Council to intervene.
Israeli rights group Peace Now said the decision risks undermining the Palestinian Authority and amounts to de facto annexation. It accused the government of paving the way for large-scale land seizures.
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