UN Palestinian rights committee 'strongly' condemns Israeli measures to expand control over West Bank

The Bureau of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on Wednesday "strongly" condemned Israel's decision to resume land registration procedures in the occupied West Bank, warning the move could further dispossess Palestinian landowners.

In a statement, the bureau said it "strongly condemns the decision by Israel, the occupying Power, to resume land registration procedures in the occupied West Bank alongside countless other illegal policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."

"Such illegal measures risk the further dispossession of Palestinian landowners and entrenchment of Israel's unlawful control over occupied territory," the statement said.

It stressed that "recent actions constitute a serious escalation that violates international law and relevant United Nations resolutions and must be condemned," adding that "such so-called administrative measures cannot disguise what this is: the de facto annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

Noting that "the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, must not be subjected to any measures aimed at altering its legal status, demographic composition, or territorial integrity," it said: "All such policies and measures are null and void and Israeli settlements and settlement-related policies in the occupied territory have no legal validity and are in grave breach of international law, as unequivocally reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice."

Calling on Israel to "immediately cease and reverse these measures," the bureau also urged the international community "to take concrete steps to uphold accountability and protect the prospect of a just and lasting peace."

The statement further added that ending Israel's "illegal occupation" remains the "only viable path forward," along with fulfilling the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and realizing a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions.

It also called on Israel to "immediately cease and reverse these measures," urging the international community to take concrete steps to uphold accountability and protect the prospect of a just and lasting peace.

On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register large areas in the West Bank as "state property" for the first time since Tel Aviv occupied the territory in 1967.

Palestinians warn that Israel's actions pave the way for a formal annexation of the occupied West Bank, which they say would end prospects for a Palestinian state envisioned in United Nations resolutions.