Israelis will be able to claim property rights in Area C of the occupied West Bank, following a May 11 decision by Israel’s Security Cabinet approving illegal land registration in the area.

Land registration is a process in which Israeli authorities will comprehensively investigate and record ownership of each plot in the official land registry. 

The move aimed “to strengthen, consolidate, and expand Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria,” according to Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, marks the first time since the 1967 occupation that such a process will be implemented in the West Bank, despite being explicitly barred under international law.

Israel refers to the occupied West Bank by its Biblical names of Judea and Samaria.

"For the first time, the State of Israel is taking responsibility for the territory as a permanent sovereign and is initiating the implementation of land registration in Judea and Samaria," far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said following the announcement.

Israel’s move comes amid its brutal war on Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere, which has killed nearly 53,000 people since October 7, 2023.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, are considered illegal. Occupying powers are prohibited from making permanent changes to the land they occupy, including registering property as if it were their own.

Attorney Michael Sfard, a specialist in international human rights law, warned that the decision violates this fundamental principle.

“There's no chance that any Palestinian will have their rights recognised... this is a massive land grab by Israel of all lands in Area C,” he added.

Experts say the new registration plan amounts to de facto annexation and makes the already dwindling prospect of a two-state solution all but impossible.

Peace Now, an Israeli organisation that advocates for the two-state solution, described the move as “a mega theft of Palestinian lands in Area C,” warning that Palestinians will have no practical way to assert ownership rights.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has recently launched its own land registration efforts, which Israel does not recognise. 

According to Monday’s decision, Palestinian officials and surveyors will be prevented from entering areas where land registration is underway. Financial aid supporting the PA's registration effort will be intercepted, and senior PA officials will be instructed to halt the project.

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1995, the occupied West Bank has been divided into three administrative zones: Area A (under full Palestinian control), Area B (shared control), and Area C (under full Israeli control). 

However, these areas are not geographically distinct but contiguous areas with overlapping borders.

Area C covers roughly 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and is home to an estimated 180,000–300,000 Palestinians and more than 325,500 Israeli settlers living in 125 settlements and around 100 outposts.

Israel froze land registration in the West Bank after it occupied the territory in 1967. 

Previously, such efforts were carried out under the British Mandate and later Jordanian rule. The freeze was intended to avoid solidifying ownership claims by Palestinians and to comply with international laws that forbid permanent administrative changes by occupying powers.

“It is not without reason that international law prohibits land registration in occupied territories,” one legal analyst noted. “Israel itself issued an order prohibiting it after 1967.”

The Oslo Accords designated Area C as territory that would eventually be transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction through final-status negotiations. 

But Israel’s policies have steadily undermined that framework. It treats Area C as territory to be permanently absorbed, using it for military training, settlement expansion, and economic development while working to minimise Palestinian presence.

In November 2024, Smotrich declared that 2025 would be the year Israel formally applied sovereignty to the occupied West Bank, effectively erasing the possibility of a Palestinian state.

The latest move comes less than a year after a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which said last year that Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful.

At the time, the ICJ mandated Israel to dismantle its settlements, end its occupation, and provide reparations to Palestinian victims.