- ANNEXATION: Cabinet OKs, and Funds West Bank Land Registry
- EAST JERUSALEM: Israel to Expand Jerusalem Borders, plus News & Analysis
- WEST BANK: Settlers Takeover Five Hebron Houses,p lus News & Analysis
- GAZA: MK Joins Gaza Breach
- SETTLER TERRORISM: American Teen Killed By Settlers in Latest Attack on Mukhmas, plus News & Analysis
ANNEXATION
Cabinet Authorizes, Funds Publication of West Bank Land Registry
On February 15th, the full Israeli Cabinet approved the publication of the West Bank land registry and allocated a four-year, $78 million (NIS 244.1 million) budget to establish a mechanism (with up to 35 employees) for updating the records in Area C of the West Bank. The Israeli Justice Ministry is tasked with carrying out the land registration process, effectively transferring sovereignty over Area C from the Israeli military to Israeli civilian governance, clear annexation. According to Peace Now, the process of land registration in Area C carried out will lead to the wide scale dispossession of Palestinians from the area. The Cabinet set a target goal of completing the land registration process for 15% of Area C within the next five years.
Defense Minister Israel Katz, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a joint statement saying:
“The decision means, among other things, the registration of extensive areas in Judea and Samaria that belong to the state in the name of the state.”
Israeli Justice Minister Levin said further:
“The resolution constitutes a real revolution in Judea and Samaria…The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. The Israeli government is committed to deepening its grip on all parts [of the land], and this decision is an expression of that commitment.”
Peace Now said in a statement:
“The government’s decision on land settlement in the West Bank is a mega land grab of Palestinian property. Land registration will result in the transfer of ownership of the vast majority of Area C to the state, leaving Palestinians with no practical ability to realize their ownership rights. It is no coincidence that international law prohibits land settlement in occupied territory, and Israel itself issued an order prohibiting it after 1967.”
The move has been criticized internationally, including by the UN and other Arab nations some of which have normalized ties with Israel.
As a reminder, only one-third of West Bank land was registered and titled (under the British Mandatory government and then continued by Jordan) when Israel seized control of the West Bank and froze land registration proceedings. The publication of the West Bank land registry is something the settlement movement has pushed for in order to be able to identify landowners in all areas of the West Bank and approach them for purchase, which – with the repeal of the ban on the sale of land to non-Arabs – settlers can now do outright. Opening the land registry will help facilitate settler claims over disputed and/or unregistered lands, making Palestinians vulnerable to further settler harassment regarding the sale of land.
As reported by Israel Hayom in 2020, the Israeli land registration process would first require a survey of the land, after which time anyone claiming ownership could present documents to the Israeli government seeking to prove their ownership. In the case of land where Israel recognizes no valid ownership claims – including cases where Palestinians do not have documentation that Israel will accept – Haaretz has previously reported that the process gives heavy weight to whomever currently controls the land (e.g., if a settler has built illegally on Palestinian land and lived there, under the protection of the IDF, the process will give weight to their claim absent overwhelming documentation, accepted by Israel, from the Palestinian owner). The registration decisions can be appealed, but once the claims are resolved by an Israeli official appointed to oversee the process, no further appeal is possible. Moreover, all “unclaimed” land – that is, land over which Israel does not recognize any legal ownership, will automatically become “state land.
Shlomo Zacharia, a land lawyer working with Yesh Din, further explained how the process of Israeli-controlled land registration will dispossess Palestinians, saying:
“If a village has 30 plots, with [specific, documented] ownership claims on only 20 of those, the other ten automatically transfer to the state. If you haven’t filed a claim of ownership, it goes to the state. Period. The arrangement will primarily benefit the Civil Administration and the settlers, since most of the land allocated by the state goes to settlers, and because the arrangement process (in Israel and the West Bank) favors the person holding the land in practice.”
EAST JERUSALEM
Israel to Expand Settlement & Jerusalem Borders
Peace Now reports that Israel is advancing a plan that will, for the first time since 1967, effectively expand the borders of Jerusalem into the West Bank by building a new “neighborhood” or the Adam settlement. The plan to build a 6,000 unit new “neighborhood” of the Adam settlement is nothing but a run-around attempt to expand the East Jerusalem settlement of Neve Ya’akov onto West Bank land. While the Adam settlement is on the West Bank side of the Israeli Separation Barrier, the new “neighborhood” is planned for land on the Israeli side of the Barrier, closer to and more functionally a part of the Neve Yaakov settlement in East Jerusalem, rather than the Adam settlement under which the plan is being put forth. Peace Now reports that, in order to accomplish the same goal with less hassle and criticism, the construction is being framed as an expansion of a Wset Bank settlement towards Jerusalem rather than the expansion of an East Jerusalem settlement into the West Bank (i.e. annexation of West Bank land).
Peace Now explained in a statement:
“This is the first time since 1967 that Jerusalem is being expanded into the West Bank. Under the guise establishing a new settlement, the government is carrying out de facto annexation through the back door. The new settlement will function in every way as a neighborhood of Jerusalem, and its designation as a “neighborhood” of the Adam settlement is merely a pretext intended to conceal a move that effectively applies Israeli sovereignty to areas of the West Bank.”
The plan has been submitted to the Higher Planning Council and can be scheduled for discussions at any time. The government clearly supports the plan, as just one week ago the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing signed a development agreement with the Adam settlement which committed government funding forth te construction of the new neighborhood.
More East Jerusalem News & Analysis
- “The Palestinians stuck in the no-man’s-land of Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement plan to expel them” (Mondoweiss, 2/19/2026)
- “Ahead of Ramadan: New Policy Paper on Escalating Israeli Policy at Al-Aqsa and Growing Harm to Muslim Freedom of Worship” (Ir Amim, 2/16/2026)
WEST BANK
Settlers Takeover Five Homes in Hebron
Peace Now reports that settlers have taken over five homes in Hebron, claiming to have purchased them, effectively establishing new settlement enclaves in the Jabal Jalles neighborhood of Hebron. In advance of the settlers’ entrance into the homes, the IDF carried out an arrest operation in the Jabal Jalles neighborhood.
Peace Now said in a statement:
“We are seeing here an alarming example of the consequences of the government’s new policy regarding land purchases in the West Bank. A handful of real estate–hungry settlers will in the future be able to determine many more such facts on the ground, with far-reaching political and security implications. This is what annexation looks like!”
More West Bank News & Analysis
- “Israel’s new separation wall will sever Jordan Valley from rest of West Bank” (+972 Magazine, 2/16/2026). Also see:
- “Palestinians see Israel’s new West Bank security wall cutting off their farmland” (NPR, 2/18/2026)
- “Smotrich: Next government should ‘encourage migration’ of West Bank Palestinians” (The Times of Israel, 2/18/2026)
- “Palestinians see Israel’s new West Bank security wall cutting off their farmland” (NPR, 2/18/2026)
- “Exclusive: Judea, Samaria Jewish population grew at twice Israel’s overall rate in 2025” (JNS, 2/20/2026)
- “’Apartheid now exists’: In the West Bank, new Israeli regulations stoke Palestinian fears of annexation” (NBC News, 2/18/2026)
- “Israel’s annexation drive has sped up – because the world allows it” (Middle East Eye, 2/18/2026)
- “Meet the settlers of Instagram, the photogenic West Bank women documenting pastoral life” (The Times of Israel, 2/15/2026)
- “Settler to Be Prosecuted for Fatal Shooting of Palestinian Activist in West Bank” (Haaretez, 2/15/2026)
GAZA
MK Joins Settlers in Breaching Gaza Fence
One far-right Israeli MK joined the Nahala settler movement in its latest organized breach of the Gaza fence, a repeated act that is intended to continue pressuring the government to reestablish Israeli civilian settlements in Gaza. MK Limor Son Har-Melech joined a group of a dozen or so settlers in crossing the fence to plant trees, saying: “Gaza will always be ours.” The IDF removed the settlers from Gaza, and issued a statement condemning the group for risking the safety of its members and the IDF.
SETTLER TERRORISM
Settlers, IDF Raid Mukhmas, Shoot/Kill Palestinian American Teen
A group of 30 masked settlers were accompanied by IDF troops during a violent raid on the Palestinian village of Mukhmas. The settlers stole 380 head of livestock and when Palestinians tried to prevent the theft, settlers attacked – shooting and killing one Palestinian, 19-year old Nasrallah Abu Siam who held American citizenship, and wounding many more. Despite IDF presence, there have been zero reports of arrests.
The Palestinian village of Mukhmas has come under intense settler violence over the past several weeks, with repeated and increasingly violent settler attacks.
News & Analysis on State-Backed Settler Terrorism
- “10 settler rabbis warn against ‘violence of any sort,’ amid attacks on Palestinians” (The Times of Israel, 2/17/2026)
- “Humanitarian Situation Update #358 | West Bank” (OCHA OPT, 2/19/2026)
- “If an Outpost Isn’t ‘Illegal’ in the Eyes of an Israeli, Does the Crime Even Exist?” (Haaretz, 2/20/2026)