Adalah Demands Cancellation of Israeli Government Decision to Advance Land Title Settlement in the West Bank, Citing Grave Violations of International Law

On 16 February 2026, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel sent an urgent letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and Minister within the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich, to demand the immediate cancellation of the government’s decision from 15 February to advance the process of land registration and “settlement of title” in Area C of the occupied West Bank.
 

The decision directs the Israeli Military Commander in the area to register at least 15% of unregistered land within Area C by 2030. Adalah’s Legal Director, Dr. Suhad Bishara, argues that the move is designed to advance the illegal settlement enterprise, further entrench Israel’s illegal annexation, and assert Israeli sovereignty over occupied Palestinian territory. These objectives were outlined in the current government’s coalition agreements  and were explicitly confirmed by Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who back in May 2025 stated: “[We are] enacting de facto sovereignty! ... For the first time, the State of Israel is taking responsibility for the area as a permanent sovereign.”
 

The decision, which effectively implements an Israeli cabinet decision from May 2025 to resume the process of land registration in the West Bank —a process frozen since 1968— allocated 244 million shekels (approximately $67 million USD) for this purpose. In its letter, Adalah argued that:

• The process of land registration is an inherently sovereign act through which Israel seeks to impose permanent changes to the land regime of the West Bank. Such measures represent an unlawful exercise of sovereignty within occupied territory, which exceeds the limited authority of an occupying power. By creating irreversible legal facts on the ground, Israel is acting in direct violation of the foundational principle of the temporariness of occupation under international humanitarian law (IHL).

• The implementation of this decision will result in the large-scale dispossession and expropriation of Palestinian land, in order to facilitate its registration as Israeli “state land.” Under IHL, an occupying power is prohibited from interfering with the private property of the protected civilian population except in cases of imperative military necessity, which is entirely absent in this instance. The land registration process requires landowners to prove ownership under conditions that are nearly impossible to meet, in addition to the process being inaccessible to many landowners, including Palestinian refugees, residents of Gaza, and foreign nationals. Failure to provide such proof results in the automatic registration of the land in the state’s name. This widespread dispossession will violate the strict prohibition on the confiscation of private property in occupied territory under Article 46 of the Hague Regulations. Furthermore, the Fourth Geneva Convention classifies the extensive appropriation of such property as a grave breach of its provisions, while the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) defines large-scale expropriation not justified by military necessity as a war crime.

• The decision further entrenches the existing Israeli system of apartheid in the OPT, a practice classified as a crime against humanity under the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute. It also exacerbates the violation of the Palestinian people’s fundamental right to self-determination, creating irreversible facts on the ground that—as determined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024—render Israel’s continued presence in the OPT unlawful.

• The decision delegates authority to Israeli civilian bodies the Land Registration Authority and the Survey of Israel, which have no jurisdiction in the West Bank. Through this decision, these bodies effectively assume the powers of the Military Commander and apply Israeli law—as the normative framework governing their activities—to occupied territory, in clear violation of international law.

• Adalah argues that the decision facilitates the illegal settlement enterprise, which the ICJ affirmed in its 2004 and 2024 Advisory Opinions constitutes a violation of IHL. The court held that both the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory and the maintenance of their presence contravene Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may also constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute.
   

Adalah’s Legal Director, Dr. Suhad Bishara, concluded that the decision “deepens the gravest violations of international law, including the continued commission of war crimes (settlements), crimes against humanity (apartheid), and the crime of aggression (de facto and de jure annexation). This decision violates the property rights of countless Palestinians as well as the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination and sovereignty. It stands in direct contradiction to the ICJ’s Advisory Opinions, as well as numerous UN resolutions.” Adalah thus demands that the decision be rescinded with immediate effect.
 

CLICK HERE to read the letter [in Hebrew]