He Government of Israel approved this Sunday to reopen the land registration process in Occupied West Bank for the first time since 1967, which will allow the Israeli State to register land in this Palestinian territory in a binding and definitive manner, according to a statement released to EFE by the Ministry of Justice.
“The approved proposal constitutes a true revolution in Judea and Samaria (biblical name by which Israeli nationalists refer to the West Bank). The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. The Government of Israel is committed to strengthening its control over all its parts,” said the head of Justice, Yaariv Levinafter the approval of the measure, which he promoted together with the Defense and Finance portfolios.
The objective of the measure is “the registration of extensive areas” in the West Bank in the name of the Israeli State, while the Government of Israel will provide the competent government authority with budget and equipment to carry out the colonization of the land. Justice indicates in the statement that the process will be applied in the West Bank Area Cthis being the area under Israeli administrative and military control (it covers 60% of the total enclave).
Division by zones
The division by zones, established in the Oslo Accordsalso stipulates an Area A under Palestinian administrative and military control (18% of the territory) and an Area B, under Palestinian administration and Israeli security control (22%).
“We continue with the settlement revolution and land grabs throughout our country. For the first time since the Six-Day War, we are restoring order and governance in the management of the lands of Judea and Samaria,” details the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich.
Israel occupied the West Bank during the Six-Day War of 1967. As a result, the Israeli military attorney general at the time issued an order to immediately suspend these ownership processes in said Palestinian territory, since they contravene international law as Israel is an occupying power.
A “security” movement
Israel Katzhead of Defense, has claimed the measure as an “essential security and legal movement, designed to ensure control, its application and total freedom of action of the State of Israel in the territory.” In addition, the rule “will allow the Army and the defense establishment to act decisively” in these areas of the West Bank in order to “safeguard the national interests” of Israel.
The Israeli NGO Yesh Din explains that this process, known as the settlement of titles, was carried out in Palestine by the British Mandate (1920-1948) to determine ownership of land. After 1948, the kingdom of Jordan, which began to administer the West Bank, continued the procedure.
“Ownership regularization is a process by which the ownership of a piece of land is determined and registered in the name of the legitimate owners in the property registry (known as tabú or tapú) in a definitive and binding manner,” Yesh Din stated on its website last September.
Possible “mass dispossession” of Palestinians
For its part, Peace Nowan Israeli pacifist NGO, points out that the measure can generate a “massive dispossession” for the Palestinians of their lands in Area C, in addition to a process of annexation and application of Israeli sovereignty in these occupied territories.
Furthermore, the fact that these lands become registered as state land of Israel or under the names of Israeli citizens “will lead to legal complications and immense costs when a (hypothetical) two-state political agreement is reached,” he adds.
