Endorsed by far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strook, often accused of latent anti-Arab bias and supremacism, the “Land Registry and Settlement of Rights” procedure aims to formalize Israeli control in zones in which settlers have established themselves in contravention of international law, with the ministers characterizing it as “a central pillar in applying sovereignty in the territory and strengthening Israeli hold on Judea and Samaria.”

It is a widely used practice among Israeli nationalists to refer to the West Bank by its biblical names, “Judea and Samaria,” known in Arabic as al-Diffah al-Gharbiyya, which derives its name from its position along the western side of the Jordan River, in order to reinforce their territorial claims.

In May 2025, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a resolution to launch a massive formalization of land titles throughout the West Bank.

The move, disguised as an attempt to digitalize land registry, was initially unveiled by Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Smotrich, and Defense Minister Israel Katz, following a declaration by the latter two that new moves were set to accelerate Jewish property acquisition within Areas A and B, referring to areas that, under the provisions of the Oslo Accords, are under Palestinian administrative and security control and Palestinian administrative control and Israeli security control respectively. 

However, the current implementation of the scheme has shifted to focus on Area C, referring to areas in which Israel exercises full military control.

But it was not until February 2026 that the plan was put into effect, transferring administrative authority to the Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Survey of Israel. Backed by a $79 million allocation, the scheme began the permanent acquisition and registration of approximately 58 percent of Area C – representing some 35 percent of the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem.

What does this mean?

Between 1949 and 1967, when Jordan administered the West Bank, land ownership was governed largely by a system inherited from the British Mandate, which categorized property as either state-owned or privately held.

However, only about one-third of the territory was ever formally registered under this process: as a result, many Palestinians lacked official documentation proving ownership – either because they had never been registered or because records were lost or destroyed during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war – after which Israel assumed control of the West Bank and halted the land registration process.

For the first time since its 1967 occupation, Israel is set to register land as state property within Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank remaining under military Israeli control.

In order to establish ownership under the new system, Palestinians are required to provide original documentation. For properties where title was transferred during the Ottoman or Jordanian administrations, several of these records remain archived in Turkey or Jordan, with the relevant authorities having said they are unable to provide the documents or have not responded to requests.

Prominent Israeli legal expert Itay Epshtain, specializing in international criminal justice and the law of armed conflict, warned Wednesday that “international law is neither ambiguous nor silent” regarding territorial annexation.

He argued that “an occupying power” is forbidden from annexing territory or permanently appropriating property, and that “this is precisely what is now occurring, in broad daylight, through administrative and technological means designed to render unlawful presence increasingly irreversible.”

“What was once advanced incrementally is now pursued through digitized cadastral engineering. A land registry presented as bureaucratic modernization is, in substance, an instrument for the consolidation of unlawful territorial acquisition,” he concluded.

The Quds Governorate slammed the launch as “a tool to further entrench the unlawful seizure of Palestinian land through the restructuring of the land registration system in a manner that serves annexation and control plans,” Palestinian state media outlet WAFA reported.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in communities scattered across the West Bank, territory Israel has occupied since 1967. These settlements are deemed illegal under international law.