AhlulBayt News Agency: The Hamas Movement condemned the Israeli cabinet’s recent approval of new measures targeting the Palestinian people and their land in the West Bank, including land confiscation, opening property registries to settlers, and undermining the authority of Palestinian municipalities, especially the al‑Khalil municipality.
Hamas stated that these decisions are part of a fascist settlement strategy and a comprehensive annexation plan, falling within the broader genocide and ethnic cleansing carried out by the extremist Israeli government. The goal, it warned, is to impose false sovereignty and reshape the geographic and legal realities on the ground.
In a press statement issued on Sunday, Hamas renewed its call for national unity and a joint resistance program to confront the Israeli occupation and its settlement expansion.
The Movement urged all Palestinians—particularly youth in the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem—to escalate all forms of resistance against the Israeli occupation and settlers to thwart annexation, Judaization, and displacement plans.
Hamas stressed that the Palestinian people reject these Israeli policies and remain committed to their historical rights, affirming that resistance is the only path to liberation. It added that true legitimacy over the land comes from the people’s steadfastness, and no temporary decision can grant the occupier any legitimate claim to Palestinian land.
Hamas also called on Arab and Islamic states to assume their historical responsibilities in confronting Israel’s attempts to impose annexation of the West Bank as a de facto reality. It urged decisive steps, including cutting ties with Israel and expelling its ambassadors, to strengthen a unified Arab and Islamic stance aligned with the aspirations of the region’s peoples and the legitimate rights of Palestinians.
The Movement further appealed to the United Nations and the international community to exert real and effective pressure on Israel to halt its violations and aggression and to hold it accountable for its ongoing crimes against Palestinian land and people.
Background on the Israeli cabinet decisions
On Sunday, the Israeli Security and Political Affairs Cabinet approved a new set of measures concerning the occupied West Bank, introduced by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. These include major changes in land administration, planning, and construction mechanisms in the occupied territories.
According to the official statement released after the meeting, the aim is to remove long‑standing “obstacles” to accelerate settlement development and expansion. One measure includes canceling the Jordanian law that prohibited the sale of property in the West Bank to Jewish individuals.
The ministers also announced that land registry records in the West Bank—sealed for decades—will now be declassified and made public. The Ministry of Finance claimed this would improve transparency and facilitate property registration and sales.
The cabinet further transferred authority over building permits in the settlement bloc within al‑Khalil, including the Ibrahimi Mosque and other religious sites, from the Palestinian municipality to the Israeli Civil Administration. This allows settlement construction to proceed without Palestinian approval.
Additionally, the cabinet reactivated the Land Purchase Committee, dormant for nearly 20 years, enabling renewed direct land purchases in the West Bank.
Defense Minister Gallant said the measures would “strengthen Israeli control” in the West Bank, while Smotrich stated that the government would “continue deepening Israeli sovereignty over the land.”
The West Bank was under Jordanian sovereignty from 1948 until Israel occupied it in the 1967 war, along with East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights.
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