Israel Registers West Bank as Its Territory, Experts Consider De Facto Annexation of Palestine

The flag of the Palestinian state. (Moslem Daneshzadeh-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Observers assess the decision of the Israeli Government to plan to openly annex occupied territory by registering the West Bank as a tangible evidence of de facto annexation of Palestinian territory.

Speaking from Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday, February 15, political and geopolitical observer Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera that Israel "packaged annexation into a kind of bureaucratic move".

He reminded the International Court in 2024 that Israel's actions were tantamount to annexation of the West Bank.

The Israeli government has approved a proposal to register most of the occupied West Bank as its "property".

This action will be the first since Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

The proposal was submitted by Israel's right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Xavier warned that Israel's actions would profoundly change the civilian and legal landscape in the West Bank, which should be the authority of the Palestinian Presidency.

According to him, registering part of the Palestinian territory in the West Bank is a fact based on what Israeli ministers said regarding "legal obstacles" to the expansion of illegal settlements there.

"People have to understand that this is not just a step towards annexation. We are experiencing annexation right now. What the Israeli government is doing is implanting their political program - a policy that has been presented," Xavier said.