Israel’s security cabinet approves measures to strengthen control over the West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel 's security cabinet on Sunday approved measures that aim to deepen Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and weaken the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority.

The office of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a statement announced the decisions that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, adding that "we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state."

Yonatan Mizrachi, a researcher with the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now, called the decision "very significant." He said the decision still requires approval by Israel's top commander for the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement called the decision "dangerous" and an "open Israeli attempt to legalize settlement expansion" and land confiscation. He called for the United States and U.N. Security Council to intervene immediately.

Jordan's foreign ministry condemned the decision, which it said was "aimed at imposing illegal Israeli sovereignty" and entrenching settlements. The Hamas militant group called on Palestinians in the West Bank to "intensify the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers."

The decision was announced a few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington about Iran and other matters.

The measures announced Sunday include canceling a prohibition on sales of West Bank land to Israeli Jews, declassifying West Bank land registry records to ease land acquisition, transferring construction planning at religious and other sensitive sites in the volatile city of Hebron to Israeli authorities, and allowing Israeli enforcement of environmental and archaeological matters in Palestinian-administered areas.

The measures also would revive a committee that would allow the state of Israel to make "proactive" land purchases in the territory - "a step intended to guarantee land reserves for settlement for generations to come."

Peace Now in an explainer issued late Sunday called the decision aimed at "breaking through every possible barrier on the way to a massive land grab in the West Bank." Notably, it said, Israeli authorities will be able to demolish construction in Palestinian-controlled areas if they deem it harmful to heritage or the environment.

The West Bank is divided between an Israeli-controlled section where settlements are located and sections equaling 40% of the territory where the Palestinian Authority has autonomy.

Palestinians are not permitted to sell land privately to Israelis. Settlers can buy homes on land controlled by Israel's government.

Asked about settlers' claims that the current system is discriminatory against Jews, Peace Now's Mizrachi said the entire system in the West Bank discriminates against Palestinians, who are not allowed to vote in Israeli elections and face Israeli military crackdowns and travel restrictions.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Smotrich, previously a firebrand settler leader and now finance minister, has been granted cabinet-level authority over settlement policies and vowed to double the settler population in the West Bank.

Settler group Regavim in a statement praised Sunday's decision, saying it would protect heritage sites in the West Bank and "at long last" make land registry accessible and transparent.

In December, Israel's Cabinet approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank as the government pushes ahead with a construction binge that further threatens the possibility of a Palestinian state. And Israel has cleared the final hurdle before starting construction on a contentious settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, according to a government tender reported in January.