As tensions with the United States continue to rise, the government is quietly advancing legislation and policies aimed at deepening its control over the West Bank — moves experts describe as creeping annexation.
On Tuesday, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is scheduled to discuss a bill that would remove restrictions on land purchases by settlers in the West Bank, allowing them to buy land even inside Palestinian communities and establish new settlements with minimal state oversight. Critics warn the legislation could inflame tensions on the ground.
Coalition members are also promoting several other bills that, while appearing minor in scope, collectively signal a shift in Israel’s legal and administrative approach to the territory.
On Wednesday, a committee chaired by Likud MK Nissim Vaturi is set to review plans to connect West Bank settlements to Israel’s natural gas infrastructure, with Energy Minister Eli Cohen expected to participate.
Last week, Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman advanced a bill through the Knesset's Constitution Committee that would formally enshrine the term "Judea and Samaria" as the official legal designation for the West Bank in all Israeli legislation — further normalizing Israeli presence beyond the Green Line.
Additional proposals in the legislative pipeline include transferring authority over archaeological sites in the West Bank from the military to the Israel Antiquities Authority, a civilian government agency and an amendment to a law freezing Palestinian Authority funds that relate to terror support. The proposed change would allow Israel to deduct additional sums for stolen Israeli vehicles.
These moves come alongside a recent Security Cabinet decision, approved earlier this week, to launch new land surveys across the West Bank through the Civil Administration's Regulation Unit, headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The surveys are expected to lead to the reclassification of large swaths of land as “state land,” paving the way for further settlement expansion.
According to the cabinet resolution — promoted by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Smotrich — the goal is to resume official land registration by Israel in the West Bank and to block Palestinian efforts to conduct their own registration processes in Area C, which is under full Israeli control.
“The Palestinian Authority’s registration procedures in Area C are unauthorized,” the ministers wrote in a joint statement. “Their outputs — maps, documents and approvals — will carry no legal weight in Israel.”
The statement also instructed Israel’s security establishment to prevent Palestinian registration efforts, block foreign aid supporting such efforts and deny professionals access to these areas. An inter-ministerial team is to be established to prepare for the land registration campaign within 60 days.
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Step-by-step normalization and sovereignty
The latest developments mark another phase in a broader campaign by Smotrich over the past two years to dismantle the Civil Administration’s authority, transfer building approvals to weekly political forums, expand agricultural settlement outposts and issue mass state land declarations. The new surveys are expected to overturn previous Palestinian land claims and facilitate settler-driven reclassification.
A major obstacle settlers face when attempting to expand outposts is “private Palestinian land” — parcels with documented ownership dating back to the Jordanian era.
With the cabinet’s new directive, many such areas will now be re-examined by Smotrich’s team. If ownership is deemed invalid or unverifiable, the land could be declared state-owned.
“This decision halts the Palestinian Authority’s takeover of Area C land and enables the Defense Ministry to lead formal land registration in the West Bank,” Katz said. “The war has proven that settlement in Judea and Samaria serves as a protective barrier for Israel’s central population centers. The state must do everything to support those who protect Israeli communities.”
“As part of the normalization and de facto sovereignty revolution we’re leading, the cabinet has approved a historic decision: for the first time, Israel is taking sovereign responsibility for the territory and launching formal land registration," Smotrich added.
"This will provide legal certainty, support settlement expansion, block the PA’s takeover efforts and eliminate the threat of a Palestinian terror state.”
'Annexation on steroids'
Dr. Yohanan Tzoreff, a senior researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and an expert on Palestinian affairs, said these steps amount to informal annexation.
“This is Smotrich’s life mission — he wants to entrench irreversible facts on the ground that prevent any possibility of a future two-state agreement,” he said. “In the past, this kind of move was done cautiously. Now it’s annexation on steroids.”
Tzoreff, a member of the Coalition for Regional Security, warned that the cumulative effect of these measures could isolate Israel diplomatically. “Eventually, Israel will be seen as a country that doesn’t want peace.
"Right-wing governments have shown little interest in coexistence. Even [Donald] Trump understands there’s a problem. We’re at a dangerous historical moment. If we don’t recognize that we’re part of this region and need to integrate into it, the consequences will be severe.”
“[Benjamin] Netanyahu may not support these steps personally,” he added, “but he can no longer stop them — his coalition depends on the parties pushing them.”