Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved a package of measures that significantly expand Israeli administrative and legal control over the occupied West Bank, drawing immediate condemnation from Western allies, Arab states, and the United Nations. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the changes in a joint statement, saying they would "dramatically" alter West Bank policy by removing legal barriers on Israeli settlers and accelerating settlement development.

Smotrich said the measures would "normalize life in the West Bank" and vowed to "continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state." Energy Minister Eli Cohen went further on Tuesday, telling Army Radio that the steps "actually establish a fact on the ground that there will not be a Palestinian state" and that they amounted to implementing "de facto sovereignty."

The decisions still require approval by Israel's top military commander for the West Bank. But Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called the cabinet vote "very significant," saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has effectively chosen to "impose de facto annexation" and "topple the Palestinian Authority."

What the measures change

The approved measures touch land sales, planning authority, enforcement powers, and the administration of sensitive religious sites.

The cabinet repealed a Jordanian-era law that prohibited the sale of West Bank land to Jewish buyers and eliminated what Smotrich described as cumbersome "transaction permit" requirements. Land registries in the territory, which had been classified for years, will now be opened — a step Smotrich said would "increase certainty" in the land market. Peace Now warned that exposing ownership records would make it easier for settlers to identify Palestinian landowners and pursue land acquisitions, a process the group described as aimed at "breaking through every possible barrier on the way to a massive land grab."

The measures also revive a government committee empowered to make what officials described as "proactive" land purchases in the territory — a step intended, in Smotrich's words, to "guarantee land reserves for settlement for generations to come."

Planning, licensing, and construction authority in Hebron — the West Bank's largest city — will be transferred from the Palestinian municipality to the Israeli army's Civil Administration. A dedicated municipal administration will also be established to manage the Israeli settlement in Hebron and the Rachel's Tomb complex near Bethlehem. The cabinet further expanded Israeli enforcement powers related to water, archaeology, and environmental matters into Areas A and B, which under the 1995 Oslo II Accord are designated for Palestinian civil or full administrative control.

The Hebron municipality condemned the transfer of authority as "illegitimate and dangerous." Under the 1997 Hebron Protocol, the city was divided between Palestinian and Israeli zones of control — an arrangement the new measures effectively override in part.

More than 700,000 Israelis currently live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas illegal and an obstacle to peace. The International Court of Justice ruled in July 2024 that Israel's occupation is illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements.

Washington and London push back

President Trump told Axios on Tuesday that he opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank. "I am against annexation," he said. "We have enough things to think about now. We don't need to be dealing with the West Bank."

A White House official said Trump's position remained "clear" and that "a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration's goal to achieve peace in the region." U.S. officials said they were still studying the implications of the cabinet's decision.

The cabinet vote contradicts requests made by Trump and his envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who asked Netanyahu during a December meeting to de-escalate the situation in the West Bank. Last year, Vice President JD Vance was more direct, calling preliminary approval for similar measures "a deliberate political provocation by the opposition" and stating flatly: "The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed."

The United Kingdom issued a sharper rebuke. "The UK strongly condemns the Israeli Security Cabinet's decision yesterday to expand Israeli control over the West Bank," the government said Monday. "Any unilateral attempt to alter the geographic or demographic makeup of Palestine is wholly unacceptable and inconsistent with international law. We call on Israel to reverse these decisions immediately."

Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the measures, calling them "contrary to international law" and warning they "jeopardize current efforts to implement the Peace Plan and the ceasefire, increasing the risk of triggering a new wave of violence." The European Union said the moves were "another step in the wrong direction."

Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Washington on Wednesday for a meeting with Trump expected to focus primarily on Iran. It remains unclear whether U.S. officials will raise the West Bank issue directly.

Arab and Muslim-majority states condemn the move

Eight countries — Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates — issued a joint statement Monday denouncing the cabinet's decision. The foreign ministers said the measures were aimed at "imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity, and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people."

The joint statement warned that the policies "fuel violence and conflict in the region" and called on the international community to "compel Israel to halt its dangerous escalation." The ministers reaffirmed that a two-state solution based on the June 4, 1967 lines remained "the only path to achieving just and comprehensive peace."

Israel's pledge not to annex the West Bank is embedded in its diplomatic agreements with several of these countries. The UAE in particular renewed warnings last year that annexation was a "red line," prompting Israel to shelve some high-level discussions on the matter at the time.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also issued a formal condemnation through Turkey's ambassador to the UN, calling the measures "illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely concerned" by the decision. "They are driving us further and further away from a two-state solution and from the ability of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people to control their own destiny," his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

Palestinian response

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the cabinet decision "dangerous" and an "open Israeli attempt to legalize settlement expansion" and land confiscation. He called on the United States and the UN Security Council to intervene immediately. Abbas's cabinet on Tuesday "instructed all public and private Palestinian institutions not to engage with these Israeli measures and to strictly adhere to Palestinian laws and regulations in force."

Palestine's ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said Tuesday that Palestinians are "mobilizing" diplomatically against the measures. "We hope and expect that the powerful partners will stop Israel in its tracks from getting away with this very violation of international law and the will of the entire community of nations," he said.

The Palestinian National Initiative said the measures "drive the final nail into the Oslo Accords." Several Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also condemned the decision.

On the ground, the situation continues to deteriorate. Nearly 700 Palestinians were displaced in January alone — the highest monthly figure since October 2023. An entire herding community of 130 families in Ras Ein al-Auja in the Jordan Valley left the area after months of settler harassment, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Over the past three years, Israel has advanced plans for approximately 50,000 new settlement units and confiscated roughly 60,000 dunams — nearly 15,000 acres — of Palestinian land since the war in Gaza began.