Israel’s government has approved a process to register land in the West Bank as “state property”, drawing condemnation from Arab nations and critics who said it would accelerate annexation of the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s foreign ministry said the measure, approved late Sunday, February 15, would enable “transparent and thorough clarification of rights to resolve legal disputes”, and was needed after unlawful land registration in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

Arab nations Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan criticized the move as illegal under international law. The measure is “aimed at imposing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank” that would undermine peace efforts in the region, Saudi Arabia’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement. Jordan’s King Abdullah II said the actions “undermine efforts to restore calm and threaten to exacerbate the conflict”, according to a statement released by the royal court.

The European Union called on Israel to reverse the move. “This constitutes a new escalation after recent measures already aimed at extending Israeli control,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni said. “We reiterate that annexation is illegal under international law.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed that point and called the move “destabilizing”, warning the “decision could lead to the dispossession of Palestinians of their property”. He also called for the decision’s immediate reversal, adding in a statement from his spokesman that “the current trajectory on the ground is eroding the prospect for the two-State solution”.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority called for international intervention to prevent the “de facto beginning of the annexation process and the undermining of the foundations of the Palestinian state”.

‘Mega land grab’

Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called the measure a “mega land grab”. Jonathan Mizrachi, the NGO’s co-director, told AFP that the move would attribute new resources for land registration.

The process will take place only in Area C, which constitutes some 60 % of the West Bank’s territory and is under Israeli security and administrative control.

“There was a lot of ambiguity regarding the land, and Israel decided now to deal with it,” Mizrachi said, adding that the grey area over Area C land ownership is likely to be used against Palestinians. “A lot of land that Palestinians consider theirs, they will find out it’s not theirs under this new registration process,” he said, believing the move would further the Israeli right’s annexation agenda.

Palestinians see the West Bank as foundational to any future Palestinian state, but many on Israel’s religious right want to take over the land.

Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of measures backed by far-right ministers to tighten control over areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo accords, in place since the 1990s. Those measures, which also sparked international backlash, include allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly and allowing Israeli authorities to administer certain religious sites in areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control.