The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a series of measures aimed at deepening Jerusalem’s hold on Judea and Samaria and expanding Jewish communities in the region, according to the Ynet outlet.
The decisions promoted by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are expected to bring about far-reaching changes to land acquisition rules in Judea and Samaria.
The approved measures include lifting confidentiality from land registry records; canceling historic restrictions on land sales to non-Arabs, and abolishing the requirement for prior approval of transactions, per Ynet.
The Cabinet resolution reportedly also authorizes Israeli enforcement action against illegal construction in Palestinian Authority-governed Area A of Judea and Samaria when structures are deemed to affect heritage or archaeological sites in the area.
Sunday’s resolution also transfers planning and construction powers for Hebron’s Jewish community, including the Cave of the Patriarchs, from the P.A.-run Hebron Municipality to Israeli authorities, in addition to transferring responsibility for managing Rachel’s Tomb. located in the northern outskirts of Bethlehem, to Jerusalem.
The Palestinian presidency “strongly denounced” the decision, according to the P.A.'s official WAFA News Agency, calling it “an open Israeli attempt to legalize settlement expansion, land confiscation and the demolition of Palestinian properties.”
It urged the U.N. Security Council and the U.S. to intervene to stop the decision.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry in a statement also condemned “the illegal Israeli decisions and measures adopted to impose unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrench settlement activity and impose a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry in a response noted that the P.A., “which attacked the Israeli Cabinet’s decision, maintains a death penalty for anyone who sells real estate to Jews.
“The Jordanian Foreign Ministry is concealing the fact that the Cabinet’s decision corrected a racist distortion based on Jordanian law—a law that discriminated against Jews, Americans, Europeans and anyone who is not Arab regarding real estate purchases in Judea and Samaria,” it said.
“Ridiculous,” the MFA added.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in a statement condemned “measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality.
They were said to have expressed their rejection of “these illegal actions, which constitute a blatant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution, and represent an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realize their independent and sovereign state.”
Regavim, an Israeli NGO focused on land-use issues, commended the Cabinet’s decision, which reverses a “distorted and discriminatory reality that has governed land policy in Judea and Samaria for years,” it said in a statement.
“The repeal of Jordanian Law 40 prohibiting the sale of land to Jews, decisive enforcement that will prevent further damage to heritage sites and the environment in Areas A and B, and at long last, making the land registry in Judea and Samaria accessible and transparent,” the group said.
“The message is clear: Zionism is not measured in speeches or declarations, but in action on the ground,” Regavim added.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately comment on the Ynet report when asked by JNS.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand control of Judea and Samaria, approving some 50,000 homes and over 50 Jewish communities since December 2022.
Last week, the Israeli government moved to officially legalize five nascent Jewish communities in Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Havat Gilad, founded in 2002, first received the Cabinet’s approval in February 2018, while the outposts of Maoz Tzvi, Mount Ebal, Tamara and Machane Gadi received the government’s OK in a May 2025 vote.
Now, the Interior Ministry has issued official “settlement symbols” for the towns, turning them into legal villages for all intents and purposes.
Smotrich, who also serves as a second minister in the Defense Ministry with responsibility for Judea and Samaria, said in a statement last week that the region “continues to expand and grow with full force.”
Jerusalem is “killing the idea of a Palestinian state and preventing the establishment of a terror state that would endanger Israel,” he added.
