Israel just erased Palestinian existence from the West Bank by law, and it’s not an overstatement. 

It has so far been commonplace to say that Israel’s annexation of the West Bank exists in all but name, since a state of de facto annexation was being established on the ground even though the West Bank was still regarded as legally separate. That changed on Sunday.

While Israel did not announce a de jure annexation of the West Bank, it has laid the legal groundwork for it. The Israeli government’s security cabinet made a series of decisions on Sunday that changed the legal status quo in the West Bank, dramatically shrinking the already limited authority of the self-governing body known as the Palestinian Authority (PA). This signals the practical beginning of a formal annexation of the West Bank — starting with specific areas.

The Israeli security cabinet made a series of decisions on Sunday that changed the legal status quo in the West Bank. This signals the practical beginning of an annexation of the West Bank.

The bill conferring these authorities to Israel was approved by the cabinet in its final draft, and is to be voted on by the Israeli Knesset. When it passes, Israel will have the authority to impose Israeli law in areas of the West Bank that had been under PA control, especially laws regulating building permits. The bill, originally introduced in 2023 and known as “the Antiquities Bill,” concerns dozens of Palestinian historical sites in the West Bank. In addition, the Israeli cabinet decided on Sunday to allow Israelis to purchase real estate in those areas, paving the way for future Israeli settlement in Palestinian demographic centers.

Background: How the West Bank is divided

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into three administrative regions, each under a different regime. About 61 percent of the West Bank, classified as Area C, fell under direct Israeli military and civil control, and the Palestinian communities that live there have been systematically displaced from their homes at unprecedented rates in the past two years. It is in Area C where Palestinians are banned from building — and demolitions happen regularly — while Israeli settlements have been expanding for decades.

Area B, making up 22 percent of the West Bank, falls under joint Israeli-PA control, with the PA running civil affairs without the presence of police, and the Israeli army controls security. The remaining 18 percent of the West Bank’s territory falls under Area A, including the urban centers of some 15 cities serving as the power centers of the PA.

This administrative division of the West Bank has effectively been the status quo since 1993, but Israel is now taking legal steps to erode PA authority in the areas over which it has partial control — Areas A and B — and the more it further erodes these authorities, the more Israel effectively collapses the legal distinction between the West Bank and Israel proper.

Major change: Israeli land purchases in the West Bank

The first part of Israel’s Sunday cabinet decision is to revoke a Jordanian-era law that banned non-locals from purchasing real estate, except with a special government permit. Now, Israelis are allowed to directly purchase property in areas A and B, which had been previously possible.

Israeli settlers have long been able to take control of Palestinian land in the West Bank, but often through underhanded means. Since 1967, Israel has funneled land to Israeli settlers by turning Palestinian land into “military zones,” and later turning them into settlements. In addition, Israelis have also sought to purchase land through registered companies with unclear ownership that then transferred property to settlers. Israeli settler organizations have also established the practice of searching for Palestinians entitled to property inheritance, living out of the country, and contacting them through companies to make buying offers.

But the new changes mean that Israeli citizens will no longer have to go through such shady measures to acquire Palestinian land in the West Bank.

While the cabinet’s legal move doesn’t mean that the Israeli government can now begin building settlements in the heart of Palestinian cities, it does mean that Israelis can directly reach out to Palestinians who own property in those cities and buy them.

In this way, Israeli individuals or organizations can directly contact Palestinians in Palestine or in the diaspora and pressure them to sell their property titles. This is already the case in Jerusalem, even though the Jerusalemite Palestinian community has remained societally opposed to selling property to Israelis, viewing it as a form of settler colonial confiscation. Still, contentious land sales have occasionally taken place between Israelis with foreign passports and Palestinian Jerusalemites, especially when those property sales were signed by non-Palestinian religious authorities in Jerusalem, such as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilus III, and Jerusalem’s Armenian Patriarch, Nourhan Manougian.

Since this has now become possible for Palestinian properties in Areas A and B, it paves the way for Israeli settlers to easily establish outposts inside Palestinian cities and towns, bringing with them an Israeli military presence for security. This is already the case in Hebron’s Old City in an area known as H1, where Israel has segregated the city’s Palestinian inhabitants from Jewish Israeli settlers and shrunk the physical space available for Palestinian life and movement. Palestinians have also been subjected to strict Israeli military control, house raids, arrests, and surveillance, in addition to daily harassment from violent Israeli settlers.

From land purchases to settlement expansion

To establish a settler outpost in a Palestinian city, it likely wouldn’t start with a property purchase. Settlers would impose their presence in those areas under other pretexts. This is where the second part of Sunday’s Israeli cabinet decision comes into play.

By approving the final draft of the Antiquities Bill, Israel is preparing the grounds for taking administrative control of historic sites in Palestinian cities. Israeli settlers already storm these sites on a regular basis, usually citing religious claims.

An example is Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. According to locals, the tomb contains the remains of a local holy man from the nineteenth century named Yousef Dweikat, while Israeli settlers claim it to be the resting place of the biblical figure, Joseph. Since 2021, Israeli forces have regularly raided Nablus with large troops in order to escort Israeli settlers to conduct prayers, injuring and killing Palestinians multiple times in the process. Sunday’s cabinet decision would, legally speaking, allow settlers to establish a permanent foothold at the shrine, creating a situation similar to that in Hebron’s H1.

In Hebron, the first Israeli settlers moved into the Old City in 1979 with religious claims to be allowed to live near the Ibrahimi Mosque, which houses the tombs of patriarchs that have religious significance for Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Ever since, Palestinians have been constantly pressured by Israeli settlers to sell their property in the Old City, where they already face segregation, settler harassment, and living restrictions.

According to these new decisions, in places like Hebron, the Israeli Civil Administration will now be responsible for issuing building permits in the Old City, rather than the Palestinian Hebron municipality. This means more restrictions on Palestinians to build or enlarge their homes, and easier issuance of demolition orders for existing ones. The Civil Administration will also create a municipal body for Israeli settlers who have been colonizing the Old City since 1979. The decision comes six months after a previous Israeli government decision to transfer administrative authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque to Israeli settlers. The previous decision from July of last year had revoked the Islamic endowment’s authority over the holy site.

Another city that would be directly affected is Bethlehem, where administrative authorities over the religious site of Rachel’s tomb, just hundreds of meters away from the Palestinian city’s center, were transferred over to Israeli settlers. Israel can now control building permits in the area surrounding the site, which Israeli authorities have already expanded by 10 dunams (1 hectare).

This area is very likely to be used to establish settler housing units, immediately adjacent to Bethlehem’s urban area. The city is already forced to live with an Israeli military tower on one side of a main street as part of the wall that seals off the Rachel’s Tomb area from the city. Given the potential for additional settler presence behind the wall, Israel’s military presence and its raids into the city would also increase.

The takeover of historic sites also strips Palestinians of important access to their own heritage, further Israelizing the landscape. As an example, Israel had previously decided in November of last year to confiscate 1,800 dunams (180 hectares) in the Palestinian town of Sebastia, north of Nablus, that house Canaanite, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic archaeological sites. Israeli settlers have been increasingly storming Sebastia’s archeological grounds since last year, and Israel has begun to plan for an Israeli archeological park in the area. Sebastia represents a key tourist attraction for Palestinians in the West Bank, and tourism is a main source of income for the town. Israel’s confiscation of the archeological area would end it.

Sunday’s decision will affect 13 Palestinian historic sites across the West Bank.

‘Most important’ settler decision since 1967

The move has been called by the Israeli settlements’ council as “the most important since 1967,” as it takes Israel’s annexation of the West Bank beyond an unrecognized practical reality to something legally entrenched. The decision also turns the PA into little more than a group of municipal bodies connected to a central administration, stripped of any limited state-like powers that it has so far claimed to wield in the sanctuaries of Area A and Area B. 

The move has been called by the Israeli settlements’ council as “the most important since 1967,” as it takes Israel’s annexation of the West Bank beyond an unrecognized practical reality to something legally entrenched.

This means that Israel has officially removed any collective existence of Palestinians in the West Bank, administrative or political, from its legal framework. Legally speaking, some areas of the West Bank populated by Palestinians can now be considered a part of Israel proper.

On Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich boasted about having personally drafted the decisions approved by the cabinet. Smotrich stated that Israel is “working within a clear legal framework to ensure its control over the West Bank and establish a stable reality for years to come,” adding that Israel is “putting an end to the idea of an Arab terror state in the heart of the country.”

The cabinet decisions are in line with Israel’s stated goal of destroying the idea of a Palestinian state. Israel’s Knesset had already passed a bill in July 2025 allowing the cabinet to annex the West Bank, a year after passing a bill rejecting a Palestinian state anywhere in historic Palestine. In 2018, the Knesset passed the “Nation-State Law,” stating that the right to self-determination between the river and the sea belongs exclusively to the Jewish people.

The cabinet decisions are in line with Israel’s stated goal of destroying the idea of a Palestinian state. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said they are “putting an end to the idea of an Arab terror state in the heart of the country.”

On Monday, eight Arab and Islamic countries condemned the Israeli cabinet’s decisions in a joint statement. The PA condemned the move, calling it “null and void,” a “violation of the Oslo Accords,” and “a practical implementation of annexation and expulsion plans,” calling on the international community to intervene to stop these decisions. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry slammed the Israeli cabinet’s decisions, saying that they aim to “impose illegal settlement authority” on Palestinian land.

The Israeli organization Peace Now also denounced the move, saying that it is part of a broader strategy to entrench Israeli control, sever Palestinian territorial continuity, and undermine any future two-state solution.

This post was originally published on The Real News Network.